Palo Alto looks to overhaul city fees
City seeks slight fee increases in July;
plans to make major changes next summer
by Gennady Sheyner
alo Altans looking to tee off at
the driving range at the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
golf course, board a pet at the
animal shelter or rent a room for a
birthday party at the Junior Museum and Zoo will have to pay a little
extra for those privileges starting in
July under a plan the City Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

P

Finance Committee endorsed Tuesday evening, May 29.
The plan, which calls for a 3 percent increase in most municipal
fees, is part of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s broad effort to raise revenues and align local fees with the cost of providing
services. The changes would raise

the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s revenues in fiscal year
2013 by about $570,000, according
to an estimate from Gail Wilcox, a
management specialist at the Administrative Services Department.
The new schedule means that fees
for renting rooms at the Junior Museum and Zoo would rise from a range
of $275 to $500 to a range of $297
to $541, while the fee for boarding a
cat at the animal shelter would go up
from $15 to $16 per day. And while
the cost of playing a game of golf at

the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course
wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change, some fees at the course
would increase slightly. Getting a
large bucket of golf balls at the driving range, for example, would cost
between $10 and $14 under the new
fee schedule, compared to the current rate of $7 to $10. Renting a set of
clubs for a nine-hole game would cost
between $9 and $12, a slight bump up
from the current rate of $8 to $11.
But while these changes are subtle
and largely non-controversial, city

officials are also planning for a much
more substantive overhaul of municipal fees next year. Palo Alto has
recently commissioned a consultant
to perform a â&#x20AC;&#x153;cost of service studyâ&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a comprehensive analysis of all
city fees and the cost of funding the
various programs and services. The
study, which is being performed by
the firm MGT of America and is
slated to be completed in Septem(continued on page 12)

TRANSPORTATION

Criticism
greets new
rail CEO
Jeff Morales to lead state
High-Speed Rail Authority

said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being driven out, as her
core beliefs about kindergarten
increasingly come up against educational trends of escalating academics, testing and classroom technology.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;No oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s said I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t teach anymore, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just making it
harder and harder,â&#x20AC;? she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I was never going to retire, but

by Gennady Sheyner
eff Morales, the newly hired
CEO of the California HighSpeed Rail Authority, is in
many ways the polar opposite of his
predecessor, Roelof van Ark.
While van Ark, a former president of international transportation
giants Alstom Transportation and
Siemens Transportation System,
brought international experience
and an engineerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s perspective to the
table, Morales is a policy insider
who knows his way around Sacramento and Washington, D.C. Morales, whose hiring the rail authority
announced Tuesday, has headed the
California Department of Transportation and the Chicago Transit
Authority. He was part of President
Barack Obamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presidential transition team, and served on the staff at
the U.S. Department of Transportation and the U.S. Senate.
But what worries some critics of
the project is Moralesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; latest job as
senior vice president and director of
strategic initiatives and government
relations at Parsons Brinckerhoff,
the firm that has been spearheading
the beleaguered project. While the
rail authority has been getting by
with a core staff of about 20 people,
Parsons Brinckerhoff had devoted
100 employees to day-to-day management of the colossal project and
had been instrumental in putting
together the environmental studies
and business plans for the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles rail system.
So while Dan Richards, chair of
the rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s board of directors, praised Morales as â&#x20AC;&#x153;exactly the
right person to take the helm at this
pivotal time,â&#x20AC;? others expressed disappointment that after an â&#x20AC;&#x153;extensive
international search,â&#x20AC;? the rail author-

(continued on page 11)

(continued on page 10)

J

Veronica Weber

Ready to discover
First-grader Guangyi Liu meticulously aligns the nails to the birdhouse he is creating during Fairmeadow Elementary Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fifth annual
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Discovery Dayâ&#x20AC;? on Wednesday. Kids chose from 60 different activities, including tae kwon do and sushi making.

EDUCATION

Departing teacher pleads: â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Keep the play in kindergartenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
After 27 years, Fairmeadow teacher says â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;enoughâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to testing, technology

A

fter 27 years of teaching
5-year-olds, Ginny Russell is
departing this month with a
cri de coeur â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a cry of the heart.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Technology and testing can wait.
Keep the play in kindergarten.â&#x20AC;?
The energetic 68-year-old presides
over a colorful Fairmeadow Elementary School classroom packed with
art, flora and fauna.
In one corner, a curtain of green
netting encloses a butterfly sanctu-

by Chris
ary, where kids may enter if theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
careful not to step on a swallowtail
or painted lady.
Kitty-corner is a shelf holding 22
pairs of neatly arranged rain boots
and slickers, in varying hues.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We play when it rains,â&#x20AC;? Russell
explains. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ever want to tell
them, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get wet.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?
The window wall is lined with
cages of the class pets: Tofu the
guinea pig; Hunter the bearded-

Kenrick
dragon lizard; Salazar the corn
snake and Willoughby the bunny.
Just outside, a garden sowed and
tended by the class produces lettuce, celery, snap peas, radishes and
more.
Wall spaces contain all manner
of kindergarten art, and studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
stories written in their own shaky,
often indecipherable, hand.
Russell said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leaving by
choice. But in the next breath she

*â&#x20AC;&#x153;Starting to Playâ&#x20AC;? meets for one hour each Monday night for nine weeks
beginning June 18. Students are encouraged to bring their own guitar,
but both nylon-string and steel-string loaner guitars are available.
Other classes at more advanced levels are also offered.
A full brochure is available at Gryphon.

GraphicDesigner
Embarcadero Media, producers of the Palo Alto Weekly, The
Almanac, Mountain View Voice, PaloAltoOnline.com and several
other community websites, is looking for a graphic designer to
join its award-winning design team.
Design opportunities include online and print ad design and
editorial page layout. Applicant must be ďŹ&#x201A;uent in InDesign,
Photoshop and Illustrator. Flash knowledge is a plus. Newspaper
or previous publication experience is preferred, but we will
consider qualiďŹ ed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including entry level â&#x20AC;&#x201D; candidates. Most
importantly, designer must be a team player and demonstrate
speed, accuracy and thrive under deadline pressure. The
position will be approximately 32 hours per week.
To apply, please send a resume along with samples of your
work as a PDF (or URL) to Shannon Corey, Creative Director,
at scorey@paweekly.com

Carol McCombâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Starting to Playâ&#x20AC;? workshop includes
the FREE use of a Loaner Guitar for the duration
of the classes.* Regular cost is just $160 for nine
weeks of group lessons, and all music is included.

Upfront

Technology and testing can wait.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Ginny Russell, a retiring kindergarten teacher,
on the need to let kindergartners play. See story on
page 3.

Around Town
BATTLE OF THE BANDS ... Every
summer, Palo Altans flock to local parks and plazas for the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
annual concert series. And every
spring, city officials debate whether
or not to cut or dramatically reduce
this popular program. This year was
no different. City Manager James
Keeneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 had initially proposed
slashing the $10,000 program. This
week, the city considered a less
dramatic proposal that would have
trimmed the Summer Concert budget by $5,000 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; an adjustment that
would have required the city to start
booking less-popular bands. But at
the end of the day, the City Council
Finance Committee decided that
this is still too much. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the one
time people say to me, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Boy, the
city is really doing something right,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?
Vice Mayor Greg Scharff said, referring to the summer concerts. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every
year, I see this coming to us, and I
see Community Services trying to
cut it.â&#x20AC;? Scharff and the committee
decided by a 3-1 vote to fully fund
the series. Councilman Pat Burt
called the proposal to slash funds
for the popular program â&#x20AC;&#x153;pennywise
and dollar foolish.â&#x20AC;? Councilwoman
Gail Price was the lone dissenter.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have great faith in the staff and
in their ability to secure high quality
talent,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There are lots of
very talented musicians and bands
in this area whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be delighted to
perform in this venue.â&#x20AC;? Even Keene
sounded a note of relief after the
committee voted to keep all the
concert funds intact. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Looks like the
bureaucrats wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be playing next
year,â&#x20AC;? he said.
PAYBACK ... Members of the
Greenmeadow Community Association in south Palo Alto were
shocked to discover in early 2011
that a former manager had embezzled close to $70,000 from the
association. Kimball Allen reportedly used the associationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s credit
card to pay for a trip to Hawaii,
a hair-replacement surgery and
a membership to a high-end fitness club. He later wrote a letter
to the association acknowledging his crime and claiming that he
â&#x20AC;&#x153;got caught up in a vicious cycle
of greed, selfishness and deceit.â&#x20AC;?
As part of his plea deal, Allen was
sentenced to six months in a county
jail and ordered to repay the entire
sum within a year. This month, the
association finally got its money

back. The Weekly has learned that
the neighborhood group received
its final restitution payment from the
Department of Justice. According to
association President Sean Giffen,
the entire judgment of $69,905 has
now been recovered.
NO BULL ... Wanted: a charming,
energetic life-of-the-party, meetand-greet sort who would be willing
to throw people off a mechanical
bull. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a joke but a Craigslist ad submitted by the Old Pro,
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bustling downtown
watering hole that bills itself as a
â&#x20AC;&#x153;VERY busy, long standing, localloved, sports themed restaurant.â&#x20AC;?
The job is tough but lucrative. The
winning candidate stands to earn
$15 per hour plus tips, and the bar
expects no shortage of applicants.
Last time, the ad points out, more
than 100 people applied for the job.
Giddyup!
ANOTHER FAZZINO ENTERS THE
FRAY ... Gary Fazzino is well-known
in Palo Alto as a former mayor, a
local-history buff and an analyst of
the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s political scene. But now,
the political spotlight is shining on
another Fazzino â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Garyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brother,
Wayne. He grew up in Palo Alto and
had served in the Santa Cruz District Attorneyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office before moving
to Nevada, where he now serves as
a special investigator with the Nevada Attorney Generalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office. He
is also campaigning. Wayne Fazzino
hopes voters will elect him justice
of peace of the East Fork Township,
Nev. His ambitions have their limits,
however. On his website, he assures voters of East Fork Township
that their court â&#x20AC;&#x153;will not be used as
a political springboard for a District
Court position in two years.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Politics in special favors have no place
in the Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Court,â&#x20AC;? his website
states. Gary Fazzino lauded his
brotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first venture into politics
and advised him on the importance
of building grass-roots support.
Gary Fazzino said Wayne is the
only other member of his immediate family to seek a political office,
though he may not be the last. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My
4-year-old son Matthew has some
political skills,â&#x20AC;? Fazzino said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He
might run for council after Liz Knissâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
final term,â&#x20AC;? he added, referring to
the former Palo Alto mayor and current Santa Clara County supervisor
who is looking to return to the council in November. N

Upfront
CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Lionel Blanks Jr. found guilty, faces 100 years
Convicted of 2010 attempted murder and rape of woman, Blanks shows no emotion after verdict
wo years and one day after
Lionel Blanks Jr. carjacked,
assaulted and tried to murder
a woman who had parked her car
along El Camino Real in Palo Alto,
a jury found the Santa Clara felon
guilty of the brutal attack.
Blanks, 37, was convicted Wednesday of six counts: rape with the special allegation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; kidnapping, tying
and binding and causing great bodily
injury; penetration with a foreign object, also with the same allegation;
attempted murder; carjacking; robbery and terrorist threats.
Prosecutors say his potential sentence fits his crimes: 100 years to
life in prison.
His victim, a woman in her 20s
known only as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Jane Doe,â&#x20AC;? said
Blanksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; actions on May 22, 2010,
robbed her of her smile and her
happiness. The savage beating, rape

T

and attempted strangulation he meted out made her feel â&#x20AC;&#x153;naked to the
world,â&#x20AC;? Doe told jurors during the
week-and-a-half trial in Santa Clara
County Superior Court.
Doe testified she was napping
at night in her Mercedes Benz
SUV under a bright streetlight on
El Camino Real, a short distance
from Serra Street. She had had a
few drinks with friends at a local
bar and became lost while trying to
drive to her South Bay home. She
pulled over to a place she thought
was safe to nap and awoke covered
in shattered glass.
Blanks grabbed her by the throat
and dragged her from her vehicle. He
pounded her head into the concrete
pavement so many times and with
such force her head was bouncing
like a basketball, she told the jury.
Blanks bound her and threw her

by Sue Dremann
into the back of her SUV, then drove
to Westwood Elementary School in
Santa Clara. He dragged her from
the vehicle, then raped and beat her
in the elementary school field. Then
he squeezed
her throat,
cutting off
her breath.
She only survived the attack because
she was able
to fake her
death, she
said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;This was
Lionel Blanks Jr.
a particularly brutal and
violent crime, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m so glad that
the system worked, and the jury held
him accountable for the injuries he
inflicted,â&#x20AC;? Santa Clara County Dep-

uty District Attorney Erin West said
Thursday. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The victim is pleased
with the verdict, and sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grateful.
But she still has a lot of healing to
do. Listening to her testify, there was
a lot of emotional damage.â&#x20AC;?
The victimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s testimony still resonates with West.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;He took my smile. He took my
happiness,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;? West recalled Doe said.
The victimâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s jaw and teeth were so
damaged from the pavement battering, for many months she had a
crooked smile.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Because she was so obviously injured, when she went to the store, she
felt like people could see what had
happened to her, and people knew
she had been raped and beaten, and
she felt naked and very exposed to
the world,â&#x20AC;? West said.
The trial began May 14. The jury
of six men and six women returned

the verdict after deliberating just
one day. A prior strike allegation
for a 1991 assault with a deadly
weapon conviction was found to be
true, which will also count toward
Blanksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sentencing.
Blanks showed no reaction. His
mother left the courtroom after the
first countâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s verdict was read, West
said.
The jury was composed of â&#x20AC;&#x153;a
good cross sectionâ&#x20AC;? of ages and
races, West said. She praised Santa
Clara County Deputy Public Defender Gilda Valeros as â&#x20AC;&#x153;a very
good attorney.â&#x20AC;? But in the end, there
wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t much the defense could do,
she said. DNA evidence taken from
the victim matched a DNA profile
from Blanks.
Valeros could not be reached for
comment. Blanks is scheduled for
sentencing on July 20. N

ichard Lyman, whose tenure
as provost and later president of Stanford University
spanned a tumultuous period of
student protest over the Vietnam
War, weapons research and civil
rights, died of congestive heart failure Sunday, May 27, at Channing
House in Palo Alto. He was 88.
A historian who first arrived at
Stanford in 1958, Lyman was provost from 1967 to 1970 and served
as the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seventh president
from 1970 to 1980.
In a 200-page memoir published
in 2009, he gave a behind-thescenes look at university decisions
to ban classified research on campus; to increase the admission of
black students and hire more black
faculty; to summon police to quell
violent anti-war protests; and to fire
H. Bruce Franklin, a tenured professor of English, for allegedly inciting
students to disobey a police order
during a 1971 anti-war protest.
An opponent of the Vietnam
War, Lyman nonetheless was frustrated with what he viewed as Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tolerant, even sympathetic
approach to students involved in
anti-war protests.
As provost, he persuaded Stanford
President Kenneth Pitzer to summon riot police in 1969 after students
broke into Encina Hall, then the main
administration building, breaking
windows, rifling through desks and
file cabinets and seizing files.
It was the first time Stanford
called police to campus. The Encina
break-in followed a nine-day student
occupation of the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Applied Electronics Laboratory in a
peaceful protest over classified and
war-related research on campus.

When Lyman became president in
1970, he instituted a policy that student protesters would not be allowed
to occupy a building overnight.
Lyman angered some alumni in
1972 when he recommended abandoning the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Indian,â&#x20AC;? Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
mascot, following talks with Native American students and staff
who called the image demeaning
and degrading. The student senate
concurred. Some alumni were so
incensed they withheld financial
contributions.
In 2002, the Stanford Powwow
commemorated the 30th anniversary of the decision.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very pleased that someone
thinks well of that decision,â&#x20AC;? Lyman
told Stanford Report at the time.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve gotten so much flak over the
years for it.â&#x20AC;?
Lymanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time as provost also saw
the universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first co-ed dorm.
One evening in 1970, when Lyman and his family were hosting a
crowded reception in their campus
home, anti-war protesters threw a
Coke bottle filled with red paint
through the back kitchen window.
Later that night, rocks were hurled
through the windows of the upstairs
sleeping porch. No one was hurt in
the incidents.
In 1976, Lyman came under fire
from some conservative alumni for
not intervening after students invited activist Angela Davis to speak
on campus.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The reason I am unwilling, despite the anger and unhappiness of
many, and threats of financial retaliation from some, to attempt to
intervene in this matter is that I have
an absolute duty to respect and do
whatever I can to protect the right of

free speech, and the willingness to
listen to unpopular or even dangerous ideas, which lie at the core of
any good universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being,â&#x20AC;? Lyman
wrote in a letter to an irate donor.
In 1972, Lyman launched the
$300 million Campaign for Stanford, then the largest fundraising
campaign in the history of higher
education. The successful five-year
drive raised money for the endowment, buildings, endowed chairs
and financial aid.
By comparison, the university announced this past February it had
raised $6.2 billion in the five-year
fundraising campaign known as the
Stanford Challenge.
Lyman left Stanford in 1980 to
become president of the Rockefeller
Foundation in New York City, a post
he held for eight years.
He returned in 1988 to develop a
forum for interdisciplinary research
on international issues, now known
as the Freeman Spogli Institute for
International Studies. He served as
director of the center until he retired
in 1991.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dick Lyman was a man of great
strength, integrity, common sense
and good humor,â&#x20AC;? said Stanford
President John Hennessy.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was a privilege to know him,
and I am deeply saddened by his
death. His impact on Stanford was
profound. He guided the university
through some of the most turbulent
years in its history, and under his
leadership, Stanford not only survived, it flourished.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;He had an unswerving belief in
academic freedom and universities,
and he inspired that commitment
in others. We are very fortunate â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and certainly the better â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for hav-

Richard Lyman

Chuck Painter/Courtesy of Stanford University News Service

Former Stanford University president
Richard Lyman dies

Linda A. Cicero/Courtesy of Stanford University News Service

OBITUARY

Stanford University Provost Richard Lyman addresses students in the
Quad on April 14, 1969. Young Americans for Freedom organized
100 students to stage a counter-demonstration against the April Third
Movement, which was protesting classified and war-related research.
ing known him and for having his
courageous, committed leadership
and service to Stanford.â&#x20AC;?
In addition to his wife, Jing, Lyman is survived by daughters Jennifer P. Lyman of Washington, D.C.,
and the Rev. Holly Antolini of Cambridge, Mass.; sons Christopher of
Searsmont, Maine, and Timothy of

Hartford, Conn.; and four grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the Lyman family requests that memorial donations
be made in his name to the American Friends Service Committee or
the Michelle R. Clayman Institute
for Gender Research at Stanford. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Palo Alto Weekly staff

eopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opinions on whether
youth who break the law
should be sentenced as
adults vary significantly when a
single word â&#x20AC;&#x201D; black or white â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
is used to describe the defendant,
a new study by Stanford Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department of Psychology
has found.
Those sentiments crossed genders, political persuasions and
feelings about race among the 735
white Americans who took part in
the study, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Race and the Fragility
of the Legal Distinction between
Juveniles and Adults.â&#x20AC;? The report
was published May 23 in the journal PloS ONE.
The study spotlights glaring disparities that could lead to the loss
of leniency for youth in the criminal-justice system, authors Aneeta
Rattan, Cynthia S. Levine, Carol
S. Weck and Jennifer L. Eberhardt
wrote.
The law currently protects
young defendants from harsher
adult sentences because they are
considered â&#x20AC;&#x153;less adult.â&#x20AC;? Youths
have less-developed brains and are
more impulsive and less capable of
gauging consequences.
But the idea of â&#x20AC;&#x153;adult time for
adult crimeâ&#x20AC;? is increasingly being
debated in the high courts.
The U.S. Supreme Court has so
far maintained greater leniency for
children. The court struck down
the death penalty for minors in
2005 and in May 2010 determined
that young offendersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; less-adult

status should protect them from
life in prison without parole in
non-homicide cases. But that decision was split 5-4, the researchers noted.
On March 20, the court heard
arguments in two murder cases
in which 14-year-olds were sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole and debated
whether such sentences are unconstitutional.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were inspired by a recent
Supreme Court case in 2010 that
addressed the constitutionality of
life-without-parole sentences for
juveniles in non-homicide cases.
... Although the statistics on these
and other types of severe punishment suggest that there are racial
disparities in who receives the
harshest of punishments, no research had looked at the role of
race in peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s support for these
types of sentences,â&#x20AC;? lead author
Aneeta Rattan wrote in an email
to the Weekly.
The statistics overwhelmingly
suggest racial disparities in sentencing, particularly for blacks,
she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;When the death penalty was
legal for juvenile offenders prior
to 2005, the majority of those
sentenced to death were African
American. Although not all states
report life-without-parole sentencing statistics by race, those that do
report their statistics, such as Florida, also show that the majority of
recipients are African American,â&#x20AC;?

Rattan said.
The Stanford study used white
participants exclusively because
whites as a group are over-represented in jury pools, in the legal
field and the judiciary, the researchers said. Roughly half the
participants were male and half
female, and all were American.
The researchers gave two groups
of participants a written scenario

olent crimes in which no one was
killed?â&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;How much do you
believe that juveniles who commit crimes such as these should
be considered less blameworthy
than an adult who committed the
same crime?â&#x20AC;?
Participants who read the scenario with the black defendant
supported life-without-parole sentences to a significantly greater

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Our results suggest that people may believe
black offenders will likely be the same when
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re adults, but white offenders are in
a developmental period and could be very
different adults.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Aneeta Rattan,
post doctoral researcher,
Stanford University
based on one of the Supreme Court
cases. In it, a 14-year-old male
with 17 prior juvenile convictions
brutally raped an elderly woman
and received a life sentence without parole.
The scenario was identical for
both groups, with one exception:
the race of the defendant.
The participants were asked
how much they agreed or disagreed with two questions: â&#x20AC;&#x153;To
what extent do you support life
sentences with no possibility of
parole for juveniles when they
have been convicted of serious vi-

degree (an average of 4.40 on a
scale of 1 to 6) than those reading
about the white defendant (who
ranked their support at 4.18). And
a black childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culpability was
more strongly viewed as on par
with an adultâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 4.42 on a scale
of 1 to 6 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; than a white childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
(4.14), the study found.
A study participantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gender,
political attitude and feelings of
warmth or coldness toward blacks
did not have a significant effect
on their perceptions, even among
liberals, according to the researchers.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;We believe that there are cognitive associations that people
hold with different groups, and
that these cognitive associations
might account for why both people low in prejudice and those
high in prejudice are affected
by race.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;For example, our results suggest that people may believe
black offenders will likely be
the same when theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re adults,
but white offenders are in a developmental period and could be
very different adults. This starts
breaking down the protections
against the most severe sentences,â&#x20AC;? Rattan said.
The research raises the possibility that exposure to black convicts
or to racially coded language could
change judgesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and juriesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; perceptions of guilt and the sentences
they hand down, the researchers
said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;This would have troubling implications for juvenile justice ...
because it suggests that juvenile
status may be more fragile than
previously considered,â&#x20AC;? the researchers concluded.
The implications could also affect more than unfair sentences for
individuals. Racial bias could influence policies that are ultimately
applied to everyone, the researchers said. N
Staff Writer Sue Dremann
can be emailed at sdremann@
paweekly.com.

alling the last several days a
difficult time at the Menlo
Park venture-capital firm
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers,
veteran partner John Doerr defended the company Wednesday, May
30, following a fellow employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
gender-discrimination lawsuit filed
in early May.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is not easy to stand by as false
allegations are asserted against the
firm, especially because legal constraints prevent us from responding
fully at this time,â&#x20AC;? Doerr wrote in a
statement posted on the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
website. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But we have been heartened to hear from so many people
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including many women â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who
have reached out to convey their
support.â&#x20AC;?
Ellen Pao, a partner at Kleiner
Perkins, filed the lawsuit May 10
after working at the firm for seven
years. The suit alleges that the firm
discriminates against women for
promotions and compensation and
that it retaliated against Pao after

she complained about sexual harassment.
After finishing an Ivy League
education that included both a law
degree and MBA from Harvard,
Pao started working at Kleiner Perkins in 2005, according to the complaint. A peer with longer tenure
at the firm
began pressuring her
for sex, she
alleges, and
after eight
months she
briefly gave
in.
The lawsuit claims
that after she
ended the re- Ellen Pao
lationship he
retaliated by leaving her out of business projects. The man left the firm
in 2011 after the firm conducted an
independent investigation into allegations made by other women, ac-

cording to the lawsuit.
The complaint also alleges that a
senior partner made an inappropriate advance to Pao and later participated in her performance reviews, to
her detriment.
After hearing of complaints from
three administrative assistants about
harassment
a nd
discrimination
in 2007, Pao
r e p e a t e d ly
approached
upper management for
help without
success, according to
the lawsuit.
Instead Pao
John Doerr
p erceive d
a pattern of retaliation as she was
passed over for promotion, networking events and raises, and given delayed or biased performance
reviews.

The complaint details specific
instances of exclusion, including a
company ski trip in January 2012
and several dinners to which only
male employees were invited. The
host of one event reportedly said
that inviting women would â&#x20AC;&#x153;kill the
buzz.â&#x20AC;?
In March, three men who had
been employed for less time at
Kleiner Perkins than Pao were promoted while no women received
similar advancement, according to
the lawsuit.
Doerr wrote in his statement
Wednesday that the independent
investigation had concluded that the
allegations were without merit and
that the Menlo Park firm doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
discriminate against women.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In the end, facts â&#x20AC;&#x201D; not unfounded claims â&#x20AC;&#x201D; will determine
the outcome of the suit filed against
us. We will vigorously defend our
reputation and are confident we will
prevail,â&#x20AC;? he said.
The statement encouraged those

judging the company to consider its
track record on supporting female
entrepreneurs. According to the
firmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website, 12 of the 49 partners at Kleiner Perkins are women,
which it claims is â&#x20AC;&#x153;the most of any
leading venture capital firm.â&#x20AC;?
The company has retained Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, a law
firm specializing in defending corporations against discrimination
claims.
Neither Pao nor her attorney, Alan
Exelrod â&#x20AC;&#x201D; known for winning a
landmark sexual harassment case in
1994 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; could be reached for comment. N
Almanac Staff Writer Sandy
Brundage can be emailed at
sbrundage@almanacnews.com.

TALK ABOUT IT

www.PaloAltoOnline.com
Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your opinion of the discrimination
suit against Kleiner Perkins? Share your
opinion on Town Square, the community
discussion forum on Palo Alto Online.

WEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE WORKING WITH HOMEOWNERS
IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE IN CALIFORNIA
Providing solutions for homeowners in need of assistance remains a critical focus for
Bank of America. We want to give as many customers as possible the chance to stay
in their homes. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re reaching out to homeowners in the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hardest-hit
communities, meeting with them face-to-face and working with them over the phone.
Since 2009, Bank of America has held customer outreach events in California and
across the country. Through these events and other outreach efforts, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve helped
modify over one million mortgages nationwide since 2008.

Held

750

Customer Outreach Events
nationwide since 2009.

Seen

Modified

Homeowners at outreach events
nationwide since 2009.

Mortgages in California
since 2008.

117,000

223,660

To learn more about options available, or to find an event or Customer Assistance Center
in your area, please visit bankofamerica.com/homeloanhelp

Lucile Packard Hospital completes three
heart transplants in three days
Gunn High student receives new lease on life
wenty minutes after doctors
started anesthesia in preparation for his May 4 heart transplant, William Wylie-Modroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s heart
stopped.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We had to urgently open his
chest and place him on the bypass
machine without really being ready
for it yet,â&#x20AC;? said Dr. Olaf Reinhartz,
lead surgeon on Wylie-Modroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operation.
More than 10 hours later, the
operation to give the Gunn High
School senior a new heart was successfully concluded.
On its own, the operation would
have been dramatic enough. But it
was only one of three heart transplants that took place over a course
of three days at Lucile Packard
Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Normally we do 15 or 16 transplants a year,â&#x20AC;? said Dr. Daniel Bernstein, pediatric cardiologist.
Reinhartz was lead surgeon for
all three operations, each of which
took 10 to 12 hours to perform. He
said Wylie-Modroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case was the
toughest because he was in the most
unstable condition coming into the
operation.

T

â&#x20AC;&#x153;He was one of these cases where
youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re in there constantly concerned
about the patient,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And
youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not sure whether you can actually save the patient. And I was
very happy to see that he woke up.â&#x20AC;?
Wylie-Modro was born with single-ventricle physiology, a congenital heart disease. Whereas normal
hearts have two separate chambers
to pump blood to the lungs and body,
his heart had only one chamber.
The heart transplant was not the
end of his ordeal. His mom, Sheron
Wylie-Modro, said in the days after
the operation, doctors discovered
and removed a blood clot from his
brain.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;That new heart actually carried
him through quite a major brain
hemorrhage operation,â&#x20AC;? she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re certainly very, very grateful to the donor,â&#x20AC;? William WylieModro said, the emotion apparent
in his voice, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and grateful for any
other potential donors.â&#x20AC;?
Wylie-Modro will graduate this
month with honors from Gunn. He
has also received a scholarship to
help pay for his tuition at the University of California, San Diego,

where he plans on studying aerospace engineering. His admission
has been deferred for a year to give
him time to recover.
Bernstein said Wylie-Modro will
be in the hospital for at least two
more weeks.
He will turn 18 in June and said
after his release he and his family
may visit England, where he has
family ties.
He said he plans on â&#x20AC;&#x153;going to a
pub and buying my dad a pint,â&#x20AC;? explaining the British tradition of buying oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s father a pint upon turning
18.
Amanda Sechrest and James
Spencer also received heart transplants, with their operations occurring on May 3 and 5, respectively.
Sechrest, who also received a liver
transplant, is projected to stay in the
hospital for a couple more weeks.
She is currently studying education
at St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a roller coaster,â&#x20AC;? she said of
her experience with her congenital
heart disease and the operations.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;But I finally feel like the roller
coasterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s coming to an end.â&#x20AC;?
Spencer was released from the
hospital nine days after his operation and said he looks forward to
â&#x20AC;&#x153;getting back on my feet, and just
getting back to where I was at.â&#x20AC;?
He plans on continuing his studies at Santa Rosa Junior College,
where he plans on majoring in kinesiology, with a minor in physical
education.
His mother, Kim Spencer, expressed her gratitude to the donor
family and said her family planned
on making contact with them some
time in the future.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hopefully itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s some comfort to
them that a portion of their loved
one lives on,â&#x20AC;? she said.
Kim Spencer and Sheron WylieModro both praised the doctors and

Courtesy of Lucile Packard Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hospital

by Bryce Druzin

Gunn High School senior William Wylie-Modro, who received a new
heart on May 4, plans to study aerospace engineering at the University
of California, San Diego.
medical staff at the hospital as well.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re so lucky that we live in
the area where we do, to be able to
come here to Stanford,â&#x20AC;? Kim Spencer said.
Dr. Reinhartz credited the size
and skill of the medical team with
making the multiple operations go
relatively smoothly.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Despite this sounding like a big
marathon effort, it actually went
pretty easy,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And that is
because we have so many people
involved in the process, and everybody knows what heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s doing.â&#x20AC;?
Reinhartz said it was â&#x20AC;&#x153;funâ&#x20AC;? to do
the three operations in a row and see
successful outcomes.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;You get a lot of satisfaction out
of my job,â&#x20AC;? he said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s why
I consider it one of the greatest jobs
you can do.â&#x20AC;?
While Wylie-Modro was not well
enough to leave his hospital room,
Bernstein stood in the lobby with
Spencer and Sechrest in front of a
group of reporters and urged members of the public to sign their donor
cards.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have these two
young people if it werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t for some
very courageous and very special
families,â&#x20AC;? he said. N
Editorial Intern Bryce Druzin can be emailed at bdruzin@
paweekly.com.

fter learning Friday, May 25,
that San Jose attorney Steven
Pogue contributed $500 to the
2008 Proposition 8 campaign to ban
gay marriage, the Palo Alto Weekly
has rescinded its endorsement of his
election to the Santa Clara County
Superior Court.
The paper recommends Pogueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
opponent, Cynthia Sevely, a deputy
district attorney.
The Weekly learned of Pogueâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
contribution to the Prop. 8 campaign
from several readers, and Pogue
confirmed late Friday afternoon he
was a donor.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Weekly is a strong supporter
of gay rights and of gay marriage,
and we cannot lend our endorsePage 8Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁ]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;

ment to a candidate for judge who
has actively attempted to deny this
right,â&#x20AC;? Weekly publisher Bill Johnson said.
None of the judicial candidates,
including Pogue, was asked to state
a position on Prop. 8 during endorsement interviews with the Weekly.
Pogue said in a statement on Friday that he believes the state should
simply register domestic partners
and leave marriage up to an individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;religion, philosophy or
vows on a starry night.â&#x20AC;?
Doing so would force the federal government to recognize civil
unions, he said, and it would ease
feelings among gay people that
they were being denied something.

Those who believe only in marriage
between a man and a woman would
not feel they were being forced by
the state to accept the stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s definition, he added.
Johnson said candidatesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; views
on gay marriage may or may not be
important to individual voters, but
by providing financial support to a
highly divisive and emotional ballot
measure, Pogue showed a passion
on the issue that is inconsistent with
the qualities the Weekly is looking
for in a judge.
Pogue also confirmed this week
that while he attended what was at
the time known as San Jose State
College, he did not graduate. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Palo Alto Weekly staff

ON YOUR MARK â&#x20AC;Ś
GET SET â&#x20AC;Ś VOTE!
LANE 1

RESTAURANTS
Best Ambiance
Best Bar/Lounge
Best California Cuisine
Best Chinese Restaurant
Best Coffee House
Best Dining With Kids
Best French Restaurant
Best Fusion Restaurant
Best Indian Restaurant
Best Italian Restaurant
Best Latin American Cuisine
Best Meal Under $20
Best Mediterranean
Restaurant
Best Mexican Restaurant
Best New Restaurant
Best Outdoor Dining
Best Restaurant To Splurge
Best Romantic Restaurant
Best Solo Dining
Best Sports Bar
Best Sunday Brunch
Best Sushi/Japanese
Restaurant
Best Thai ReStaurant
Best Vegetarian/Vegan Cuisine
Best Wine Bar

LANE 4

LANE 3
LANE 2

FOOD & DRINK
Best Bagels
Best Bakery/Desserts
Best Breakfast
Best Burgers
Best Burrito
Best Deli/Sandwiches
Best Grocery Store
Best Happy Hour
Best Ice Cream/Gelato
Best Milkshake
Best New Food/Drink
Establishment
Best Pizza
Best Produce
Best Salads
Best Seafood
Best Steak
Best Takeout
Best Yogurt

SERVICE
Best Auto Care
Best Chiropractor
Best Day Spa
Best Dentist
Best Dry Cleaner
Best Fitness Classes
Best Frame Shop
Best Gym
Best Hair Salon
Best Hotel
Best Manicure/Pedicure
Best Massage
Best Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Haircut
Best New Service Business
Best Orthodontist
Best Personal Trainer
Best Plumber
Best Shoe Repair
Best Skin Care
Best Travel Agency
Best Value Hotel/Motel
Best Veterinarian
Best Yoga

RETAIL
Best Beauty Supply
Best Bike Shop
Best Bookstore
Best Boutique
Best Eyewear
Best Flower Shop
Best Furniture Store
Best Gift Shop
Best Green Business
Best Hardware Store
Best Home Furnishings
Best Jewelry Store
Best Lingerie Wear
Best Menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Apparel
Best New Retail Business
Best Nursery/Garden Supply
Best Pet Store
Best Pharmacy
Best Shoe Store
Best Sporting Goods
and Apparel
Best Stationery Store
Best Toy Store
Best Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Apparel

2012
LANE 5

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Best Art Gallery
Best Live Entertainment
Best Nightlife Place
Best Wifi Hot Spot
Best Palo Alto Park
Best Place To Go For A Run
Best Place For
A Kidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Playdate

In this year's Best Of we cheer the Olympian businesses that champion
the Palo Alto area -- the Peninsula's gold-medal restaurants, retailers and services.
HALL OF FAME:

Businesses who win their categories five
years in a row are inducted into the Hall
of Fame for three years. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Hall
of Fame Super Stars are:

Go to PaloAltoOnline.com and Vote!
Two ways Vote online at www.PaloAltoOnline.com/best_of
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; OR â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
to vote!
Scan the QR Code and vote with your mobile phone!
Vote by July 8
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁ]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 9

Upfront

High-speed rail
(continued from page 3)

ity decided to go with the ultimate
insider for the top staff position.
State Sen. Doug LaMalfa is among
the latter. As soon as Moralesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hiring was announced, the Republican
senator released a statement noting
the rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s $200 million
contract with Parsons Brinckerhoff
and criticizing the rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
choice for the top post.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Rail Authority claims it con-

ducted a nation-wide search just to
end up with an executive from its
biggest contractor?â&#x20AC;? LaMalfa asked
in a statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;How can we expect
this insider to provide an independent review of the project, when he
helped write the plan thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s already
doubled the cost to taxpayers?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Moving forward, how are we
to know where the Authority stops
and Parsons Brinckerhoff begins?â&#x20AC;?
he added.
Elizabeth Alexis, co-founder of
the Palo Alto-based rail-watchdog
group Californians Advocating Re-

CityView
A round-up of

Palo Alto government action this week

City Council
The council had no meetings this week.

City Council Finance Committee (May 29)

Fees: The committee approved a 3 percent increase in most municipal fees. Yes:
Unanimous
Budget: The committee tentatively approved the city managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed budget
for fiscal year 2013. Yes: Unanimous

Planning and Transportation Commission
(May 30)

Rail corridor: The commission discussed the Rail Corridor Task Force Study, approved the environmental analysis for the study and recommended integration of the
report into the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Comprehensive Plan. Yes: Unanimous

Board of Education (May 31)

Brown Act: The board held a special meeting, with legal advisers on hand, to discuss the Ralph M. Brown Act and the California Public Records Act. Action: None

sponsible Rail Design, voiced a similar concern. Her group was among
the first to criticize the rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ridership projections and cost
estimates (the price tag for the system increased from about $43 billion two years ago to $98.1 billion
earlier this year before coming down
to the current level of $68 billion).
Parsons Brinckerhoff, she said, was
the primary agency responsible for
the initial low-balling of the cost estimate. The fact that Morales served
as a high-level executive for the rail
authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest-paid contractor
should disqualify him from the position, she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always been a major concern
with this relationship. Who is running the show? Is it PB or is it the
state of California?â&#x20AC;? Alexis told the
Weekly. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now, thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an even more
difficult question to answer.â&#x20AC;?
Parsons Brinckerhoffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s management of the rail project also faced
scrutiny from State Auditor Elaine
Howle, who released an audit in
April 2010 criticizing the highspeed-rail project for â&#x20AC;&#x153;lax contract
managementâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;weak oversight.â&#x20AC;?
The report doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t name Parsons
Brinckerhoff, but refers to the firm
as â&#x20AC;&#x153;program manager.â&#x20AC;? It notes that
the rail authority â&#x20AC;&#x153;is significantly
understaffedâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;has delegated
significant control to its contractors
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; especially the entity that manages
the program.â&#x20AC;? The audit uncovered
many instances in which the program manager provided inaccurate
information to state officials.
In her January follow-up to the

2010 report, Howle noted that the
authority â&#x20AC;&#x153;relies on the Program
Manager to provide accurate, consistent, and useful information in its
monthly progress report.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;However, we found that these
reports were often inaccurate and
that at times the Program Manager
appeared to misinform the Authority about the speed with which contractors for each region performed
tasks.â&#x20AC;?
Howleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office first flagged these
problems in 2010. In its follow-up this
year, it learned that these problems
still persist. Her audit uncovered more
than â&#x20AC;&#x153;50 errors and inconsistencies of
various types in three of the Program
Managerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s monthly reports,â&#x20AC;? which
were submitted in December 2010,
June 2011 and
July 2011. In
some cases,
Howle wrote,
the program
manager â&#x20AC;&#x153;altered dates
to make it
appear that
the regional Jeff Morales
contractors
would perform work either more or
less quickly than they estimated they
could in their progress reports.â&#x20AC;? The
program manager also changed the
regional contractorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; estimated milestones and â&#x20AC;&#x153;percentage-of-progressâ&#x20AC;?
data. Of the 12 percentage-of-progress
changes, Howle wrote, â&#x20AC;&#x153;three made
it appear that the regional contractor

had completed more than it reported
and nine made it appear that the regional contractor completed less than
it reported in its progress report.â&#x20AC;?
Howle wrote in the January report that while there are some valid reasons for the discrepancies,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;the number and frequency of the
changes we noted suggest that the
Program Manager misinformed
the Authority about the actual status and progress of the construction section.â&#x20AC;?
Her follow-up report states that because the authority has delegated so
much control of the project to its contractors, â&#x20AC;&#x153;it may not have the information necessary to make critical decisions about the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s future.â&#x20AC;?
The rail authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vacancy problem persists to this day. Of the 11
positions listed on the rail authority
websiteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Executive Staffâ&#x20AC;? directory, seven are vacant (the list does
not include the CEO position).
In announcing Moralesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; hiring,
Richard called the move â&#x20AC;&#x153;a giant
step forwardâ&#x20AC;? for the rail project,
for which voters approved a $9.95
billion bond in 2008.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;This Board was deeply impressed
by his extensive experience in large
and complex transportation issues
and projects on the local, state, federal and international levels,â&#x20AC;? Richard
said in a statement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He has a solid
track record of creativity and innovation in the delivery of on-time, onbudget infrastructure projects.â&#x20AC;? N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be emailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.

Kindergarten teacher Ginny Russell poses with some of the butterflies
she raises with her students in a butterfly sanctuary set up in the
Fairmeadow Elementary School classroom. After teaching at the school
for 27 years, Russell is retiring.

Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m very sad about whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening to public education.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I should never complain, but this
is heartbreaking.â&#x20AC;?
Last summer Russellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s room, like
all elementary classrooms in Palo
Alto, was furnished with a Smart
Board â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a large, interactive whiteboard that displays a computerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
video output.
Russell promptly covered hers
over with a sheet of muslin onto
which she pinned alphabet cards.
She re-hung her maps, which had
been displaced by the Smart Board,
on a suspension system she rigged
from wall-mounted L-hooks.
Not far from the unplugged Smart
Board rests Russellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unused supply
of â&#x20AC;&#x153;leveled readers.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t use them â&#x20AC;&#x201D; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not appropriate in kindergarten,â&#x20AC;? Russell
said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I have kids who are already
reading better than sixth-graders â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
my own daughter was like that.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;But when you do leveled reading,
kids know soon enough which ones
are in the higher and which are in
remedial. Why should we start that
in kindergarten? Give them at least
a year to learn social skills.â&#x20AC;?
Russell believes passionately that
kindergarten should be about play,
imagination, building a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s selfconfidence and sense of wonder.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;To get through lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s many
stresses, which weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all going
to have, they need to have those

things,â&#x20AC;? she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The way theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re packing the curriculum â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and all teachers are frustrated by this â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it puts more and
more stress on the kids and stress on
the teachers. And to what end?â&#x20AC;?
Here she evokes author and homeschooling advocate John Holt:
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since we canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what knowledge will be most needed in the future it is senseless to try to teach it

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;No oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s said I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
teach anymore, but
theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just making it
harder and harder.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Ginny Russell,
kindergarten teacher,
Fairmeadow Elementary School
in advance. Instead, we should try
to turn out people who love learning
so much and learn so well that they
will be able to learn whatever needs
to be learned.â&#x20AC;?
As for kindergartners using computers, said Russell, who has one in
her classroom and one in her home,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;that can wait until third grade because kids need to interact with the
world.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Children need all their senses to
learn, and the soft-touch on a screen
takes that away,â&#x20AC;? she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;When theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re learning to write,
they need the drag of a pencil or
crayon or chalk â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it sends the message to the brain better.â&#x20AC;?
In her class, kids absorb academ-

ics by sinking their hands into nature
and art, she said. Symmetry can be
understood through a butterfly art
project, science through watching
butterflies mate, lay eggs, unfurl
their proboscises and sip nectar.
Each year Russellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s students also
make a full study of the silk-moth
life cycle, from the egg to the larva
to the pupa to the adult.
Russell said she made her decision
to retire in March after deciding she
was unwilling to return in the fall to
introduce leveled readers, connect
her Smart Board and comply with
what she views as an increasingly
test-oriented culture.
She still doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll
do with herself after years of coming to her classroom seven days a
week to care for the animals.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I wake up every morning and
say, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This is not really happening,
is it?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t believe there are only
a few days of school left, and I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
get to come here anymore to hear
the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s voices.â&#x20AC;?
She fantasizes about a benefactor swooping in to transport her
classroom, intact, to another space,
where she can keep working.
By the time theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve grown up, the
kids may not remember her name,
Russell said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll remember the butterflies hatching or the
guinea pigs having babies or the silk
moths or whatever â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the wondrous
things that happened in here that
they got to be a part of.â&#x20AC;? N
Staff Writer Chris Kenrick can
be emailed at ckenrick@paweekly.
com.

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Upfront
CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Former Gunn student found guilty in 2009 shooting
Palo Alto resident faces 18 to 20 years in prison for gang-related attack
aniel Gil-Fernandez, a Gunn
High School dropout and selfproclaimed NorteĂąos gang
member, was found guilty Tuesday
afternoon, May 29, of shooting a
rival gang member in 2009, Santa
Clara County Deputy District Attorney Chuck Gillingham said.
The jury of seven women and five
men took just five hours to convict
Gil-Fernandez, 21, of attempted vol-

D

untary manslaughter in the March
18, 2009, shooting on Arastradero
Road in Palo Alto. Gil-Fernandez
was also convicted of two enhancements of causing great bodily injury and discharge of a firearm. He
faces 18 to 20 years in state prison,
Gillingham said.
The daylight shooting caused
a precautionary lockdown at Terman Middle School, Gunn High

by Sue Dremann
School and Juana Briones and Barron Park elementary schools. Palo
Alto police responded to a report
of a shooting near a carport at
the Arastradero Park Apartments
at 574 Arastradero. At about 3:16
p.m., they found the victim, Francisco Alvarez, bleeding at Maybell
Avenue and El Camino Real, near
the apartment complex.
Alvarez, 20, a San Jose resident,

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had recently moved to Palo Alto.
He was shot twice in the torso and
groin with a small-caliber handgun during a NorteĂąos-SureĂąos
gang-motivated argument with GilFernandez, who lived at the apartments, according to Gillingham.
Eight shots were fired. Alvarez survived the shooting after emergency
surgery at Stanford Hospital.
Police arranged for protection for

Alvarezâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family while police sought
Gil-Fernandez, who had told friends
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Fees

The changes are being driven to
a great extent by the rapidly growing cost of employee health care and
pension costs. Between fiscal year
2002 and 2012, citywide health care
expenditures grew by 126 percent
(from $6.6 million to $14.9 million),
while its pension expense shot up
from $3.8 million to $23.9 million,
a 529 percent spike.
Palo Alto saw some good news this
year on the revenue front, namely in
stronger-than-expected sales-tax revenues. But rising expenses continue to
outpace revenue growth, prompting
the council to seek budget cuts and
concessions from employee groups.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;happy days are here
againâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re on Easy Street,â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?
Keene said.
Chief Financial Officer Lalo Perez
characterized the 3 percent increase
the committee backed as the first
phase in the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort to align fees
with the services these fees are paid
for. The second phase will come next
year, after the cost of service study
comes out and the council considers
the studyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendations.
The Tuesday meeting was the
latest in a series of reviews by the
Finance Committee of Keeneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed budget for fiscal year 2013.
Though the committee had unanimously endorsed most of Keeneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
recommendations, members split
over a proposal that would have
raised the rates for garden plots
at community gardens. Staff had
initially proposed doubling the fee
from 50 cents per square foot to
$1 per square foot, a proposal that
was panned by local gardeners. A
revised proposal, which staff presented Tuesday, would have raised
the fees by 50 percent, to 75 cents
per square foot.
The committee also gave its tentative approval to the Community
Services Department budget. In doing so, it rejected a proposal to trim
the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s expenditures for the Summer Concert series by $5,000.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the one thing that people
really, really appreciate, and I think
itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something we really need to
keep up,â&#x20AC;? Scharff said, referring to
the annual concert series. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It would
be a shame to make the experience
less popular so it fades out.â&#x20AC;?
Price was the lone dissenter in the
vote, saying she is confident that staff
would be able to make the event successful even under a tighter budget.
The full council is scheduled to
hold a public hearing on the 2013
budget on June 11 and to formally
adopt it on June 18. N

(continued from page 3)

ber, is expected to pave the way for
sweeping changes in fees and services, city officials said Tuesday.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Given that the information will
illustrate the extent to which certain
services are being subsidized by taxpayersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; funds, we expect one area of
focus will be the question of who
benefits from â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and who should
pay for â&#x20AC;&#x201D; any given service,â&#x20AC;? Wilcox wrote in a new report.
The Finance Committee, which
discussed the ongoing study Tuesday, acknowledged that the study
could lead to difficult conversations
between the city and the community. Though Councilman Pat Burt
said the study would only â&#x20AC;&#x153;informâ&#x20AC;?
the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decisions rather than
determine them, he noted that the
study could spell â&#x20AC;&#x153;a great change to
the community.â&#x20AC;?
City Manager James Keene concurred and called Tuesdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adoption of modest fee increases a â&#x20AC;&#x153;movie trailerâ&#x20AC;? for the greater discussion
in September.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We expect it to be contentious,â&#x20AC;?
Keene said.

Upfront

News Digest
City to consider limiting hazardous materials
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort to curb the use of hazardous materials near residential
neighborhoods will be the focus of a public hearing Monday night, when
the City Council considers changing the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s zoning rules for industrial
operations.
The council decided on April 23 to further analyze the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hazardous-materials regulations and to consider changing the rules after hearing
a litany of complaints from the Barron Park neighborhood. Concerns
centered on Communications and Power Industries, a manufacturer of
microwave and radio-frequency equipment. The company expanded its
plating shop in 2006 and faced criticism from the neighborhood after
it accidentally released nitric acid into the air, spilled water containing
hydrochloric acid in the driveway and dumped wastewater into Matadero
Creek.
The city had commissioned an amortization study to determine a reasonable length of time for CPI to phase out its plating-shop operation. The
study concluded that it would take about 14 years.
CPI has consistently rejected the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposal that its operations be
phased out. On May 4, the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attorney Mark Steres wrote the
council a letter stating that CPI has always been in compliance with all
regulations. The company also rejected the findings of the amortization
study, claiming that it would have to move all of its operations, not just
the plating shop, if the city were to pursue a zone change prohibiting the
shop.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;While we agree that it is the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s responsibility to protect its citizens,
it is also the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s responsibility to act rationally and not to defer to unfounded and overly exaggerated fears,â&#x20AC;? Steres wrote. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Gennady Sheyner

PG&E to start Palo Alto gas-line replacement
Starting June 11, the replacement of a 76-year-old PG&E gas-transmission line could cause traffic delays, noise and foul odors in Palo Alto
through the summer, Pacific Gas & Electric has announced.
The gas pipeline, called Line 109, is one of three running up and down
the Peninsula that are part of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aging infrastructure.
Line 109 has concerned city leaders because it has only one welded
seam, and PG&E has no record of testing the pipe. Other local pipelines
have a double-seam weld, which secures the pipe inside and outside, according to a PG&E report.
PG&E will replace part of Line 109 along Charleston Road, west of
Nelson Drive to Alma Street. Another segment next to Foothill Expressway at Miranda Avenue will also be replaced beginning in June.
Residents and commuters should expect traffic, noise and gas smells
near the construction, but gas service in most cases will not be disrupted,
PG&E noted. The north side of East Charleston will have partial lane
closures throughout the project, although two-way traffic will be maintained. Some driveways could be blocked, but crews will provide access
within a few minutes of a request.
Anyone with concerns about the smell of gas during the testing or replacement of the pipeline can call the 24-hour PG&E number at 800-7435000. Residents and businesses wanting a phone call before gas venting
begins can call Lizz Williams at 408-282-7640, no later than June 20. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sue Dremann

Suspected burglar nabbed near Stanford Dish
Palo Alto and Stanford University police arrested a suspected burglar
late Wednesday morning, May 30, after finding him hiding in a shed
near the Stanford Dish.
Faculty housing in the area has been burglarized several times in the
past week, and officers were in the area looking for suspicious activity
when a captain spotted a vehicle driving erratically in the 700 block of
Frenchmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Road at about 10:30 a.m., Stanford Department of Public
Safety spokesman Bill Larson said.
The officer pulled the car over, but the driver then drove off, abandoned
the car and fled on foot. Stanford and Palo Alto police set up a perimeter
at Junipero Serra Boulevard and the neighborhood. Three officers jogged
up a hiking path toward a house where they suspected the man was hiding, according to an eyewitness. Upon approaching the house, the officer
in the lead was tipped off by a man working at an adjacent home that a
stranger was hiding inside the shed next door.
After scaling the fence, the officer approached the shed and shouted:
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Come out with your hands in the air!â&#x20AC;?
Seconds later, a lanky man wearing a loose T-shirt, baggy jeans and a
baseball cap was escorted from the shed and taken into custody.
Stanford police are still investigating the manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s possible connection
to up to four burglaries, including one on Wednesday morning, but he is
only a suspect at this time, Larson said. Some property in the vehicle was
similar to items taken in one of the burglaries, he said.
Police did not release the manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name prior to the Weeklyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s press deadline Thursday, but he is a Southern California resident in his 20s, Larson
said. He was arrested for violating parole, evading and resisting a police
officer and was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San
Jose. N
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Gennady Sheyner and Sue Dremann

n
n
o
e
C
c
p
t
i
on
m
a
C
Summer 2012

For more information about these camps, see our online directory of camps
at http://paloaltoonline.com/biz/summercamps/.
To advertise in a weekly directory, contact 650-326-8210

Athletics
Champion Tennis Camp

Academics
Atherton

CTC programs provide an enjoyable way for your child
to begin learning the game of tennis or to continue
developing existing skills. Our approach is to create
lots of fun with positive feedback and reinforcement
in a nurturing tennis environment. Building selfesteem and confidence through enjoyment on the
tennis court is a wonderful gift a child can keep
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Camps, ages 6 - 14.
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650-400-0464

COUNCIL FINANCE COMMITTEE ... The committee plans to discuss the
SAP Security Audit report and progress on the reportâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendations.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, June 5, in the Council Conference Room at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

650-934-7380

This talk will review recent updates about the known beneďŹ ts and side effects
associated with vitamins and herbal supplements commonly available in your
neighborhood drug store. We will present tips for selecting reliable products and
keeping your health care provider in the loop.

Friday, June 15, 1 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 2 p.m.

CITY COUNCIL ... The council is scheduled to hold a closed session to
discuss the status of labor negotiations with the Service Employees International Union, Local 521, and the management and professional group.
The council will also meet with property negotiators to discuss the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
negotiations with John Arillaga. The council also plans to discuss 195 Page
Mill Road, a proposed mixed-use development that includes research
space and 84 residential units; hear a progress report on construction of
the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center; and consider the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
process for evaluating and changing regulations pertaining to hazardous
materials at CPI and other locations. The closed session will begin at 5:30
p.m. on Monday, June 4. Regular meeting will follow in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

Please join us for an overview of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
disease. We will disuss prevention, diagnosis, treatment and tips for families
and caregivers.

UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION ... The commission plans to discuss
the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy risk-management policy, consider a power-purchase
agreement with Brannon Solar Project Output; and review the Natural Environment Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The meeting will begin at
7 p.m. on Wednesday, June 6, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250
Hamilton Ave.).
ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW BOARD ... The board plans to discuss 1845 El
Camino Real, a request by the Hayes Group for a three-story mixed-use
condominium building; consider a request by Steinberg Architects on behalf of Casa Olga and Joie de Vivre Hospitality for conversion of an existing
eight-story building to an 86-room hotel with a ground-floor restaurant at
180 Hamilton Ave.; and consider a request by Simon Property Group to
renovate a portion of Stanford Shopping Center, which includes demolition
of 246,118 square feet and construction of a freestanding restaurant and
five retail buildings. The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, June
7, in the Council Chambers at City Hall (250 Hamilton Ave.).

Online This Week

These and other news stories were posted on Palo Alto Online throughout
the week. For longer versions, go to www.PaloAltoOnline.com/news
or click on â&#x20AC;&#x153;Newsâ&#x20AC;? in the left, green column.

Menlo Park approves Facebook expansion
Pundits may be tracking the downward trajectory of its stock second
by second, but Facebook continues to have friends in Menlo Park.
(Posted May 30 at 11:29 a.m.)

A thief or thieves made off with at least $78,000 in jewelry from a
Palo Alto antique store on May 22, Palo Alto police Agent Marianna
Villaescusa said. (Posted May 30 at 9:51 a.m.)

Facebook IPO draws lawsuits
The anticipation of Facebookâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s May 18 IPO quickly nosedived into
dissatisfaction, judging by the multiple class action lawsuits the socialnetworking company now faces. (Posted May 29 at 4:27 p.m.)

Art commission welcomes two new members
Expanding the types and mediums of public art are common goals
for Patricia Walsh and Vikki Tobak, the newest members of the Palo
Alto Public Art Commission. (Posted May 29 at 1:57 p.m.)

Victim watches as thieves steal jewelry
A Palo Alto woman who left her residence for 20 minutes returned
home to watch two men abscond with her jewelry Wednesday, May
23. (Posted May 25 at 4:26 p.m.)

Police use stun gun in Mountain View brawl
Police officers used a Taser-type stun gun on a man who allegedly
violently resisted arrest during a massive brawl outside the Zen Lounge
in Mountain View last Friday, May 18, according to a police spokeswoman. (Posted May 26 at 5:59 p.m.)

mended, the study would be added
to Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Comprehensive Plan,
the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s official land-use bible,
and would help guide policy decisions relating to land use around
the tracks. The new document
could also help the city develop
priorities for its capital-improvement program, Planning Director
Curtis Williams told the planning
commission Wednesday.
The report, which the City
Council commissioned in 2010,
was sparked by Californiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed high-speed rail project at a
time when the council and many
in the community at large worried
about the implications of the new
system, which is slated to use the
Caltrain tracks. The council, which
officially opposes the proposed
high-speed rail system, decided to
pursue the study to articulate Palo
Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own vision for the Caltrain
corridor.
But even though the planned
high-speed-rail system prompted
the report, the studyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s scope extends
far beyond the controversial $68
billion project. Though the study
promotes a below-grade design for
high-speed rail, it devotes much of
its substance to other issues relating

t
ntes

21 st

afer rail crossings and better
east-west corridors throughout Palo Alto should rank
among the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest transportation priorities, the Planning
and Transportation Commission
concluded Wednesday night, May
30, when it voted to endorse a new
vision document for the Caltrain
corridor.
The commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of
the Rail Corridor Task Force Study,
a report conducted by city officials, consultants and a 17-member citizens panel. The group had
spent two years analyzing the rail
corridor in Palo Alto, developing a community â&#x20AC;&#x153;visionâ&#x20AC;? for the
corridor and considering specific
changes to the corridor and to the
two major arteries running parallel to the tracks â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Alma Street to
the east and El Camino Real to the
west.
While the report is sweeping in
scope and its most significant recommendations would take years
and millions of dollars to implement, its implications could shape
the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priorities for years to
come. If the council approves the
report as the commission recom-

to the Caltrain corridor, including
unsafe rail crossings, poor east-west
connections and inadequate assets
near the railroad tracks.
Rail crossings, in fact, emerged
as the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top priority at a March
29 community meeting, which
brought about 50 residents to the
Lucie Stern Community Center.
When asked to rate their priorities, the vast majority called for
better rail crossings, particularly
at Charleston Road and Meadow
Drive (dozens also expressed support for an improved overcrossing
at University Avenue and El Camino Real).
The new study includes as one of
its top goals ensuring â&#x20AC;&#x153;the highest
possible safety at all rail crossingsâ&#x20AC;?
and mitigation of â&#x20AC;&#x153;rail impacts on
neighborhoods, public facilities,
schools and mixed-use center.â&#x20AC;? The
studyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendations include
a proposal for four new â&#x20AC;&#x153;priority
crossingsâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at Everett, Kellogg
and Seale avenues and at Matadero
Creek. It also calls on the city to
explore possible sites in south Palo
Alto for new crossings. Michael
Smiley, a consultant at BMS, noted
that the group didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find any suitable locations for such a crossing

that would not require property seizures.
The report already received the
unanimous backing of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Architectural Review Board, which
reviewed the document on May 24.
Board Chair Judith Wasserman
praised the report Wednesday, saying this was the first time the Caltrain corridor has been looked at in
such a broad way, geographically
speaking. The new study, she said,
gives the city â&#x20AC;&#x153;an excellent framework for urban-design examination
of this area.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;It did not simply look at train
tracks, but it looked at the city
from Alma Street to El Camino,
both sides, and in doing so, it gave
the city an opportunity to examine
what has been sort of put together
haphazardly over the years,â&#x20AC;? Wasserman said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If high-speed rail
has done any good so far in this
process, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s that it has called attention to this major asset in the
community â&#x20AC;&#x201D; which is also a major obstacle.â&#x20AC;?
Members of the planning commission were equally enthusiastic,
with Commissioner Mark Michael
calling the study â&#x20AC;&#x153;profoundly impressiveâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;potentially transfor-

mational.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The potential for this to be a
great benefit to the community,
when and if itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s done, is very exciting,â&#x20AC;? Michael said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very
thoughtful.â&#x20AC;?
His colleagues also greeted the
study with enthusiasm, though
Commissioner Samir Tuma asked
whether some of the recommendations could be more concrete. The
commission also approved the environmental analysis for the study,
though it made several additions,
including one that explicitly states
the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rejection of an elevated
rail alignment in Palo Alto.
Irvin Dawid, a Sierra Club member who served on the task force,
said he hopes the report leads Palo
Alto to pursue major transportation projects that the city could
be proud of. He urged the city to
â&#x20AC;&#x153;think big.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s really important
that this does not just become another study that goes into the bin,â&#x20AC;?
Dawid said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I hope something big
will come out of it â&#x20AC;&#x201D; something
good.â&#x20AC;? N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be emailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.

ENTRY DEADLINE
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Hugh B. Gill
Hugh Berry Gill, 94, a resident of Watsonville,
California, died on Wednesday May 23, 2012.
Hugh is survived by Nancy, his loving wife of 42
years. Hugh was born in Wenatchee, Washington,
on September 8, 1917 to Ina Isabelle Wolters
and Hugh Berry Gill. He grew up in Portland,
Oregon and on the San Francisco Peninsula. He
graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1935,
although he spent his freshman and sophomore
years at Burlingame High School, for which he
had a special fondness. He attended San Jose State
University. Hugh married Helen Denuit in 1941
and had four children: Susan of Aptos (Patrick
Cummins), Jane of Utah (Robert Mathis), Hugh
of Pennsylvania (Mary), and Patience of Capitola
(Patty) (Scott Beck). Hugh and Helen divorced in
1957 and he later married Meg Wolff of Palo Alto
and had one child, Gretchen Wolff Reynolds. He
met Nancy Wells Ferguson (children Margaret
Schlee (Modesto) and Joey Ferguson (Madera)) in
1969 while working at Sylvania, and the two were
married in San Francisco, CA after a whirlwind
romance!
Hughâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s working years, which lasted well into
his eighties, included positions at Standard
Oil, Allstate, Sylvania, Sears, Memorex, Santa
Cruz Lumber Kitchens, Scarborough Lumber
Kitchens, County of Santa Cruz Laboratory, and
Watsonville Hospital Laboratory. His favorite
positions were in the laboratories and also at the
Santa Cruz County Election Board. Hugh loved
the excitement of politics and being the ďŹ rst to
know!
Hugh was an avid sports fan, and the San
Francisco 49ers were his most beloved football
team. A 49er loss could completely ruin his day.
Hugh had hoped to live long enough into 2013 to
see Jim Harbaugh take the Niners to the Super
Bowl, as he felt that they ďŹ nally had a decent
team and could win it all! In addition to football,
Hugh loved watching and playing golf. He spent
hundreds of hours on many courses around the
Monterey Bay.
Hugh also loved reading and driving. There
were very few days in which he did not enjoy
both.
Hugh, most importantly, was beloved by
many members of his community to whom he

provided counsel
and support. He
encouraged all of us
to live one day at a
time and reminded
us that tomorrow
would take care of
itself if we would
let it.
He spent
countless
hours
at meetings or on
the phone talking to his friends, offering strong
suggestions about what the best course of action
might be in a particular situation. He believed in
turning things over and that time takes care of a
lot of things.
Always positive, Hugh made it a point to not
complain about life or how he felt as he aged. He
was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome
(MDS) and pulmonary ďŹ brosis about two years
ago. It was only in the past few weeks that his
activities became limited by his diseases.
Hugh will be missed incredibly by his wife,
children, friends, and his cat Little Girl. In
addition, he is survived by his grandchildren
Edward Cummins (Lynise), Seamus Cummins
(Julie and great-grandchildren Ian and Luke),
Alice Herman (Cory and great grandchildren
Joseph, Joshua, and Naomi), Rachelle Mathis
(Mark Murphy) Elizabeth Wooldridge (Keith
and great-grandchildren Seth and Ethan),
Mindy Larmore (Will), Grace Elizabeth Beck,
Joshua Schlee (Susie), and Elizabeth and Zach
Reynolds.
We would like to thank Dadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wonderful and
dedicated group of friends, Dr. Patrick Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Grady
and his staff for their compassionate care over
many years, Dr. Thanh Vu, Dr. Amy Mc Mullen,
Dr. Randall Rea and Hospice.
Any remembrances can be made to the SPCA,
Saint Andrew Church, or Hospice.
Services will be held on June 2, 2012, at 3:00
pm at Saint Andrew Presbyterian Church, 9850
Monroe Drive, off of Soquel Drive in Aptos, CA.
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
The courage to change the things I can
And the wisdom to know the difference
PA I D

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING
of the Palo Alto
Planning & Transportation Commission
Please be advised the Planning and Transportation Commission
(P&TC) shall conduct a public meeting at 6:00 PM, Wednesday,
June 13, 2012 in the Council Conference Room, Ground Floor,
Civic Center, Palo Alto, California. Any interested persons may appear and be heard on these items.
Staff reports for agendized items are available via the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main
website at www.cityofpaloalto.org and also at the Planning Division
Front Desk, 5th Floor, City Hall, after 2:00 PM on the Friday preceding
the meeting date. Copies will be made available at the Development
Center should City Hall be closed on the 9/80 Friday.
NEW BUSINESS.
Public Hearing:
1. 1095 Channing Avenue: Request by John Miller, on behalf of
Elizabeth Seton School and Roman Catholic Bishop of San Jose, for
a Conditional Use Permit Amendment allowing the operation of a new
Pre-Kindergarten program within an expanded building, and an after
school day care program, associated with an existing private school
(K-8 program) at 1095 Channing Avenue. Zone: R-1. Environmental
Assessment: Exempt from CEQA per section 15301.
2. Comprehensive Plan Amendment: Review of Vision Statement,
Goals, Policies and Programs of the Community Services and Facilities Element.
Questions. For any questions regarding the above items, please contact the
Planning Department at (650) 329-2441. The ďŹ les relating to these items are
available for inspection weekdays between the hours of 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
This public meeting is televised live on Government Access Channel 26.
ADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations to access City facilities, services or
programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn more about the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), please contact the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ADA Coordinator at 650.329.2550 (voice) or by e-mailing ada@
cityofpaloalto.org.

***
Curtis Williams, Director of Planning and Community Environment

Transitions

Deborahâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Palm would like to take this opportunity to thank all these
wonderful people who helped make our â&#x20AC;&#x153;Starry Night Art Auction
BeneďŹ tâ&#x20AC;? on Saturday, May 19, 2012, such a great success!

Births, marriages and deaths

Deaths
William D. Wagstaffe
William D. Wagstaffe of Menlo
Park died May 14, 2012. He was
89.
Born in Alameda, Calif., to Harold and Margareta Bergin Wagstaffe and raised on the Peninsula,
he attended Bellarmine College
Preparatory in San Jose. A graduate of the Class of 1940, he was
the first person in school history to
work on the newspaper â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the first
edition of which came out in 1936
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; all four years of its existence.
After graduating from Menlo
College with the Class of 1942, he
went on to attend Stanford University, majoring in business. Immediately following early graduation
from the MBA program, he went to
the San Francisco enlistment center on Market Street and shipped
out to Notre Dame University for
officer training at the onset of
World War II.
Following an assignment at Fisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Island in New York, he shipped
out with the 7th Fleet of the U.S.
Navy to the South Pacific, specifically the Philippine Sea frontier to
the end of World War II.
Following the war, he served in

the Naval Reserve Officersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Organization at Treasure Island for 29
years until he retired as Captain.
He worked at Del Monte Foods in
San Francisco for 40 years, with a
final role as director of transportation.
He became a professor of business at the University of San Francisco, St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s College, and,
more recently, Golden Gate University, where he was the Professor
of Operations Management for the
last 23 years until his death.
An active member of Old St.
Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center in San Francisco,
he met his future wife, Marjorie
Thompson, there and they shared
their first date at an East West
Shriners football game at Kezar
Stadium on New Yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day in
1955. They were married at Old
St. Maryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on Feb. 11, 1956.
At age 12, a caddy job at the Burlingame Country Club inspired a
lifelong love of golf in him, which
he nurtured for the rest of his life.
He got his first hole-in-one at age
81.
He is survived by his wife of 56
years, Marjorie; five children, Paul
(Jennifer), Ann (Jeff), Rosemary
(Roger), Skip (Lisa) and Eileen
(Jeff); grandchildren, Ryan, Perry,
Rachel, Julie, Lindsey, Rebecca,
Roxanne, William, Tori, Audrey,

Jessi and Ashley; nephews, Steve
(Sue), Dennis (Cathy), Jim (Karen) and Raymond (Jacque); niece,
Gerry; and many grandnieces and
grandnephews. He was preceded
in death by his brother, Gerard;
sister-in-law, Jean; sister, Clare;
and nephew, John (survived by
Victoria).
In lieu of flowers, donations may
be made to Bellarmine Alumni
Association, Stanford University
Alumni Association or Golden
Gate University.

BIRTHS
Alexander and Katianne Annison of Menlo Park, a daughter,
May 15.
Aisea Uhila and Mariela
Cruz of East Palo Alto, a daughter, May 16.
Gregory Silva and Jennifer
Clemenza of Palo Alto, a daughter, May 19.
Elliot and Jennifer Boggs of
Menlo Park, a son, May 21.
Shaheer Rizvi and Sanjida
Rahman of Stanford, a son, May
23.

Hans Fink

February 29, 1940-May 15, 2012
Hans Fink, 72, born 2/29/1940 in Vienna,
Austria, died peacefully at home 5/15/2012 in
San Bruno, California surrounded by family
and friends. He was a resident of Menlo Park
and San Bruno, California.
Dearly beloved husband of Kathryn Low;
devoted father of Adriane Fink and fatherin-law of Jill Gasowski; dear stepfather of
Kristen Calderon and Karen Naylor, dear step
father-in-law of Cesar Calderon; wonderful
Opa to Saiya, Kindred, Manaen, Lucas, and
Catalina; long time friend of Fred Guerrero;
and cherished brother-in-law of the Cebula
family.
Hans was loyal, hardworking, generous,

charming,
and
dignified, a man
of integrity, with a
great sense of humor.
He loved camping,
fishing, traveling and
was also known for
his amazing hobbies
of Bonsai and Koi fish. He worked for over
40 years as a general contractor and proudly
served as a PFC in the U.S. Army.
Cherished by many, he will be missed by
those who knew and loved him. A â&#x20AC;&#x153;Celebration
of His Lifeâ&#x20AC;? is being planned for late summer.
PA I D

O B I T UA RY

Mark McClelland
Oct. 19, 1954-May 12, 2012

Mark McClelland, a resident of San Jose,
died after a short illness on May 12, 2012,
at age 57.
Mark was raised in Park Ridge, Ill.,
attending special education classes and
graduating from high school in 1975.
In 1982 he moved to Arkansas with his
parents. Since 2005 he has lived in San
Jose near his brother and sister-in-law,
Gary and Kathy, of Palo Alto. Through
Kathy, Mark enjoyed being a part of a
much bigger family.
Mark attended Social Vocational Services
in Santa Clara. Mark loved good food and

hanging out at the
beach, and he was a
great soccer fan. He
was an enthusiastic
dancer and singer.
Mark liked everyone
he met, and loved
to joke. In addition
to his brother and sister-in-law, Mark is
survived by his nephew Brendan Callahan
and his wife, Sarah Namath, and their
son, Miles.
Donations can be made to http://
socialvocationalservices.org/aboutus.htm

Robert Kirkman Arnold
February 20, 1924 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; May 22, 2012
Robert Kirkman Arnold, age
88, passed away at his home
on May 22, 2012 surrounded
by loved ones. Raised in San
Francisco by his parents, Agnes
& George, he attended Lowell
High School where he was Sr.
Class President before graduating
in 1941. He met his late wife,
Margaret (â&#x20AC;&#x153;Pegâ&#x20AC;?) Koshland from
Hillsborough while attending UC
Berkeley. Bob at 6â&#x20AC;&#x2122; 4 1/2 â&#x20AC;? played
center on the Bears basketball
team, where he was known as
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Hapâ&#x20AC;? Arnold. After the war broke out, he volunteered for the
US Army draft. Before being shipped off to Japan, Bob and Peg
were married in March 1945. The war ended before he arrived
in Japan. Upon returning home he resumed his education at
UC Berkeley earning a PhD in Economics (1961).
He moved to Palo Alto where he and Peg raised their three
children Kirk (1948), Keven (1950) and Michael (1953). Bob
pursued a career as an economist at Stanford Research Institute
until 1969, when he and Stephen Levy, founded an economics
consulting business called The Center for the Study of the
California Economy. Bob was famous for pursuing causes in
which he believed. He ran for Congress in 1968 on an anti-war
platform. He didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t win the primary, but he won many hearts
and souls. He was devoted to ďŹ nding novel ways to educate the
public on economic topics. He was always ready to join a march,
give a speech, or offer his support to help the causes he believed
in. Peg passed away in 1999. In 2005 he married the lovely and
wonderful Carrie Knopf from Palo Alto. Carrie and her late
husband Kermit Knopf had been friends with Bob and Peg for
many years. Bob and Carrie were inseparable and enjoyed 13
wonderful years together. Bob took pleasure in getting to know
and spend time with Carrieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children and grandchildren. Bob
and Carrie traveled together and spent long days on the coast
of Northern California. Bob and Carrie were devoted to each
otherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happiness, good humor, and well-being. Bob will always
be remembered for his integrity, intelligence, story telling,
limericks, exuberant good humor and the unmatched positive
energy and passion he shared with everyone.
Bob is survived by his wife, Carrie, his three children, Kirk,
Keven and Michael, their spouses and his three grandchildren;
by Carrieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s three children, Bret, Karen and Clay, their spouses,
and by her six grandchildren. Memorial services are pending.
PA I D

Editorial
Bike bridge: good idea,
bad execution
Knissâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attempt to rush through plan for using
Stanford trail money was a misstep
that served no one well

W

ithout any prior discussion with Stanford University officials and on just a few daysâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; notice, County Supervisor
(and candidate for Palo Alto City Council) Liz Knissâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
proposal to allocate more than $8 million to construct a bike
bridge over U.S. Highway 101 and a bayfront trail fell abruptly
on its face last week.
Consideration of Knissâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan was quickly and appropriately
postponed by her colleagues after a Stanford homeowners group
and the university protested the lack of any prior notice, discussion or invitation of other ways of spending the money, which is
available due to San Mateo County rejecting a trail that Stanford
had committed to funding as part of obtaining its current use
permit.
Stanford was obligated under the use permit, adopted by the
Board of Supervisors in 2011, to build trails that would help complete the countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s regional trail plan. After Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proposed
trails, one along Page Mill Road and the other along Alpine
Road, became mired in controversy and resulting delays, the
board finally approved the Page Mill trail and left it up to San
Mateo County to negotiate the Alpine Road trail.
With San Mateo Countyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rejection of Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan, some
$10 million is now available to the Santa Clara County Board of
Supervisors to allocate for recreational purposes relating to the
impacts of new development on the Stanford campus. Kniss had
attempted to broaden this language back in 2006 to require the
money be used to pay for recreational facilities within 10 miles
of the campus, but her colleagues rejected the change.
Exactly what the parameters are for spending the $10 million
will undoubtedly be a debate itself. Other conditions of Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use permit already require the university to replace, using separate dollars, lost recreational resources caused by new
development on campus.
We think a case can be made that using some of that money for
a bike bridge over 101 is consistent with the agreement, but other
options should be on the table and both Stanford and the general
public should have more than a few days to discuss it.
Clearly, a bike bridge would be a major enhancement to Palo
Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bicycle master plan and would add to the ability of some
Stanford workers or students to bike to work, but there are likely
other options that are as good or better. The Stanford homeowners group offered a few, including creating new or improving
existing bike paths on the periphery of the campus.
With $10 million available to spend on trails or other recreational uses in the Stanford area, the Board of Supervisors needs
a process that generates constructive input from Stanford, the
City of Palo Alto and the public.
Kniss would be wise to focus her efforts on outreach to her
constituents and on building a consensus within the community
on the best use of these funds.

The Weeklyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s endorsements
in local races

â&#x153;&#x201C;Jerry Hill for State Senate
â??
â&#x153;&#x201C;Rich Gordon for State Assembly
â??

Another shortcut?
Editor,
Do we really need another shortcut between Embarcadero (west) and
Newell through the Art Center (formerly City Hall) and the Main Library? The one we have now a block
away is seldom used. Why destroy
gardens for that?
Marvin Lee
Harker Avenue
Palo Alto

Simitian for Supe
Editor,
One Saturday morning every year,
the board room in the Palo Alto Unified School District office overflows
with educators, elected officials and
community members from throughout Santa Clara County. I join them
in spending two invaluable hours being both informed and entertained
by our State Senator Joe Simitian as
he provides his Education Update.
In typical Simitian manner, he
distills the complex issues of California state public education finance
into clear laypersonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s terms, while
sharing his unique insights into their
underpinnings and implications for
our schools. He holds our rapt attention because we know we are learning from one of the most intelligent,
thoughtful, savvy, effective, independent policy-makers in our state.
Senator Simitian is currently running to represent us on the Santa
Clara County Board of Supervisors
(District 5), to fill the spot being
vacated by Supervisor Liz Kniss.
We need for the voters of District
5, which includes Palo Alto and its
neighboring communities, to vote for
Joe in the June 5th election. There is
no better candidate for the job, and
we cannot afford to lose his voice in
the public arena.
Barbara Sih Klausner
Salvatierra Street
Stanford

YOUR TURN
Submit letters to the editor of up to
250 words to letters@paweekly.
com. Include your name, address
and daytime phone number so we
can reach you. We reserve the right to
edit contributions for length, objectionable content, libel and factual errors
known to us. Anonymous letters will
generally not be accepted.
You can also participate in our popular interactive online forum, Town
Square, at our community website at
www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Read
blogs, discuss issues, ask questions
or express opinions with your neighbors any time, day or night.
Submitting a letter to the editor or
guest opinion constitutes a granting
of permission to the Palo Alto Weekly
and Embarcadero Media to also publish it online, including in our online archives and as a post on Town Square.
For more information contact
Editor Jocelyn Dong or Online Editor
Tyler Hanley at editor@paweekly.com
or 650-326-8210.

This week on Town Square
Town Square is an online discussion forum at
www.PaloAltoOnline.com

Posted May 28 at 8:39 a.m. by
Ethan Cohen, a member of the
Palo Alto High School community:
The thing that has been striking me as I read some of these
comments (re: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weekly rescinds
judgeship endorsementâ&#x20AC;?), especially those from Nayeli and
Herman and others, is that the
arguments they make seem very
similar to arguments made 50 or
60 years ago about equal rights
for African-Americans.
Society evolves, although it is
true that Judeo-Christian doctrine
is against same-sex marriage it is
also true that the first amendment
says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Congress shall make no
law respecting an establishment
of religion.â&#x20AC;?
Even beyond that, the idea that
just because a law was written
thousands of years ago means it
should still be enforced is ridiculous. If we applied this to everything we would still have slavery,
we would be stoning children for
disrespecting their parents and
football would be illegal.
Over the history of civilization
we have realized that these ideas
were wrong and have taken steps
to correct our mistakes. The argument that to redefine marriage
is bad because (it) is changing a
historically held notion is identical to arguments surrounding segregation and Jim Crow. As society has evolved that argument has

seemed more and more absurd to
us. Therefore I can take solace in
the fact that this argument in the
context of same-sex marriage will
seem just as absurd in 50 or 60
years.
The problem with that is of
course that fact does not help gay
couples who today are suffering
from discrimination and are denied rights that heterosexual people and couples take for granted.
Posted May 31 at 9:35 a.m. by
Resident, a resident of Another
Palo Alto community:
The biggest flaw in all this (re:
â&#x20AC;&#x153;New vision for Caltrain corridor
in Palo Alto speeds aheadâ&#x20AC;?) is that
Caltrain is looked upon as an entity on its own or at most an entity
that parallels road travel.
The real way to look at Caltrain
is as a public-transport system
that must run in conjunction with
bus travel. The first and last mile
of a rail transit commute is just
as important as the rail commute
and this is where Caltrain fails.
By making shuttles, bus schedules and even innovative ideas
such as pedal rickshaw taxis, bike
security and rental as well as, wait
for it, bathroom facilities, part of
the mix, forward thinking could
make Caltrain a much better option for many Palo Alto commuters, regardless of whether we are
the destination or homebase of the
commuters.

The Palo Alto Weekly encourages comments on our coverage or on issues of local interest.

What do you think? Do you think the money set aside when the county
approved Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s general use permit should be used for a bicycle overpass in south Palo Alto?

Check out Town Square!
Hundreds of local topics are being discussed by local residents on
Town Square, a reader forum sponsored by the Weekly on our community website at www.PaloAltoOnline.com. Post your own comments,
ask questions, read the Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blog or just stay up on what people are
talking about around town!

On Deadline

Dick and Jing Lyman personified â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the power of one,â&#x20AC;&#x2122; multiplied
by Jay Thorwaldson
he death of Richard W. Lyman May 27 is
more than the passing of a former Stanford
University president and noted historian â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even one who was
said to be the man â&#x20AC;&#x153;who
saved Stanfordâ&#x20AC;? during
a decade of political tumult and financial crisis
for the university.
His death also marks
the sad break-up of one
of the most remarkable couples Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever
known, simply â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dick
and Jingâ&#x20AC;? to their friends and many admirers
and associates.
Jing, at 87, survives Dick, along with their
four children. Yet she stood out in her own right,
before, during and after the decade Lyman
served as Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s president, 1970-1980. Her
advocacy of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights and fair housing
was in distinct contrast to most Stanford â&#x20AC;&#x153;first
ladies,â&#x20AC;? a role she also fulfilled with graciousness and energy.
While Dick Lyman dealt with student demonstrations, destructive sit-ins, ending â&#x20AC;&#x153;the Indianâ&#x20AC;?
as Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mascot, and rebuilding Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
financial-support base, Jing Lyman became
deeply involved in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights and gender
equality, as well as having a lesser known but
high-impact role in fair housing.
Both were lightning rods for controversy, and
demonstrated personal courage to match their
convictions. Separately they demonstrated the
power of positive actions to effect change, and
their mutual support multiplied their effectiveness.
As a couple, married in 1947 in Maine, their
mutual commitment to building a better, more

T

intelligent and kinder future easily matched
their sense of history and caring for people.
But their presence at Stanford and in the Palo
Alto community touched so many people that
personal memories tend to overshadow their
formal histories. They emanated goodwill, a
vital core of their leadership.
I got to know them while reporting for the
former Palo Alto Times during the 1970s, when
I covered demonstrations and sit-ins at Stanford
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including spending considerable time inside
the occupation of the office of former Stanford
President J.E. Wallace Sterling, before it was
later torched.
Lyman as president took a hard line against
destructive demonstrators while defending freedom of speech, including the right of students to
invite Angela Davis to speak.
In other words, he outraged the extremes of
both left and right.
Meanwhile, Jing established her own strong
presence in equality for women and equality
in housing. I had repeated contacts with her as
a reporter covering such issues, and was impressed with both the strength of her convictions and her eloquent effectiveness.
She came by her social consciousness naturally: Her mother worked in the Franklin Roosevelt
administration helping to resettle rural families
displaced by the Great Depression. Her greatgreat grandfather was a cleric in Vermont who
founded one of the first co-educational schools
in America, and a great aunt founded a girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
school for French war orphans.
The Lymans relocated from the East Coast
to the Stanford/Palo Alto area in the late 1950s,
when he accepted a position at Stanford teaching British history â&#x20AC;&#x201D; beginning his rise to academic prominence and leadership.
Jing was propelled into political activism in
the mid-1960s by Prop. 14, a state constitutional

amendment to overturn the 1963 Rumford Fair
Housing Act, named for the only Northern California African-American member of the state
Legislature. The initiative measure, sponsored
by the California Real Estate Association and
endorsed by the California Republican Assembly and ultra-conservative John Birch Society,
was to overturn the Rumford Act and allow
landlords to rent â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or more to the point NOT
rent â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to anyone. The amendment won by a
two-thirds vote, but was declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court in 1966 and
the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, leaving Prop.
14 as an historical footnote.
But Jingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activism had been activated. After
she organized a Midpeninsula group to fight
Prop. 14, she recruited about 1,500 persons to
join the newly formed Midpeninsula Citizens
for Fair Housing, or MCFH, which still exists.
One MCFH program was called the â&#x20AC;&#x153;sandwich testâ&#x20AC;? of fair housing practices throughout
the region. The test typically consisted of a
white couple, an African-American couple and
a second white couple â&#x20AC;&#x201D; matched economically and in family composition â&#x20AC;&#x201D; visiting an
apartment complex or real estate firm about an
hour apart, and filing reports on what they were
told and how they were treated.
A surprisingly frequent result was that the
minority applicants reported being treated with
extreme courtesy while being told there were no
vacancies or quoted rents substantially higher
than those quoted to the white couples. I once
wrote that the sweet hypocrisy resembled a
â&#x20AC;&#x153;marshmallow wall.â&#x20AC;?
The testing resulted in increased enforcement of fair-housing laws by the state and huge
changes in rental practices.
But Jingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s activism on housing was overshadowed for many by her advocacy of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
rights and her deepening involvement within

the Stanford community as her husband assumed the presidency.
She became a leader in the Stanford Faculty
Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Club, hosting meetings at her home
and pushing programs to help women qualify
for education and jobs, and advocating promotion of women to tenure-track positions. During
Dick Lymanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s presidency, she hosted hundreds
of receptions at the Hoover House on campus.
And he supported her in return.
She was a co-founder and active fundraiser for
Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Center for Research on Women
in 1974 and beyond, which later evolved into the
Clayman Institute for Gender Research. Both
organizations created lecture series in Jingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
name, one of the many honors bestowed on her
and Dick â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including parallel designations by
Stanford as â&#x20AC;&#x153;Uncommon Manâ&#x20AC;? and â&#x20AC;&#x153;Uncommon Woman.â&#x20AC;?
Yet one incident stands out to me as demonstrating their lifelong interest in the well-being
of people. In 1996 I helped arrange an appearance at Gunn High School by Mary Pipher, author of the pivotal book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Reviving Ophelia,â&#x20AC;?
on the erosion of self-image among adolescent
girls. On my way to the lecture, I met Dick and
Jing walking away. It was a full house at Spangenberg Auditorium. Appalled, the next day I
arranged for a VHS tape to be delivered to them
at home.
There will be many Dick and Jing stories
shared by friends, family and associates far
closer to them than I. But this demonstration
of continuing interest in the well-being of girls,
long into their â&#x20AC;&#x153;retirementâ&#x20AC;? years, is a testament
to the enduring humanity of their rich lives. N
Former Weekly Editor Jay Thorwaldson
can be emailed at jthorwaldson@paweekly.
com with a copy to jaythor@well.com. His
blogs can be read at www.PaloAltoOnline.
com, under Town Square.

Streetwise

Do you support dedicated express bus lanes on El Camino Real in Palo Alto?
Asked on corner of California Avenue and Birch Street and Cambridge Avenue Post Office in Palo Alto. Interviews by Bryce Druzin and Lauren-Marie Sliter. Photographs by Bryce Druzin.

Yitao Zhang

Stanford University student
Stanford Campus
â&#x20AC;&#x153;If you have a bus lane, thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s less
space for cars. How many cars would
be displaced? How much extra time
does it add to each car?â&#x20AC;?

Isabella Fu

Stanford University student
Stanford Campus
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Since California is so into environmental protection and being green, if
this decreases the use of private cars,
then this could have a benefit.â&#x20AC;?

Maria Lane

Unemployed/photographic design
student
California Avenue
â&#x20AC;&#x153;For someone who takes buses, it
sounds great. But it could be a safety
concern if the lane is next to the sidewalk.â&#x20AC;?

Stephan Pfaender

Retired
Barron Park
â&#x20AC;&#x153;As long as it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t interfere with
the existing traffic. In principle, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m a
supporter of public transportation.
Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve heard itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been used in other cities
with great success.â&#x20AC;?

Rayma Williams, a volunteer at the Palo Alto Animal Services Center, moves a cat up for adoption from its cage to a play area. In 2011, the shelter returned 20 percent of the cats it
received to their owners, surpassing its target of 8 percent.

hey arrived en masse, wielding signs, wearing buttons
and clutching letters and petitions. Some brought their children; at least one brought a puppy.
By the time the four members of
Palo Alto City Councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Policy
and Services Committee began
their deliberation in front of the
standing-room-only crowd, it was
clear to everyone in the Council
Chambers that this would not be
your run-of-the-mill budget hearing. When it comes to animals in
Palo Alto, emotions run high.
The group of protesters, which
included more than 100 residents,
animal advocates and shelter volunteers, flocked to the May 10
meeting to speak out against a
proposal by City Manager James
Keeneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office to close the animal
shelter on East Bayshore Road and
outsource animal services to an-

other agency â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a move that would
save the city about $500,000 annually. About two dozen lined up to
address the council, voicing a singular message: Closing the shelter
would be a disaster for the city.
Many expressed shock that the
possibility was even under consideration. Elena Kogan said she
found it hard to fathom that one of
the most affluent parts of the state
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a region that boasts some of
the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s richest companies and
nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s priciest real estate â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is
struggling to keep a 5,400-squarefoot animal shelter open.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unbelievable that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
about to betray the most vulnerable
life forms that are living among us,
that are inherently dependent on
us and that are a part of all of our
lives in one way or another â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even
if youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not a pet owner,â&#x20AC;? Kogan
said.

Scottie Zimmerman, one of the
shelterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roughly 50 volunteers,
recently gathered signatures on a
petition to keep the shelter open.
She told the council committee
about the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unspoken
but unwavering support for animal
services.
At last monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s May FĂŞte parade, she approached a young man
standing near a truck on a shaded
street. She asked him if heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d be interested in joining the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s effort by signing the petition.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;He handed me a fistful of money and took the thing and signed
it. I found out later it was $100 in
cash,â&#x20AC;? Zimmerman said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The next
day I was collecting signatures and
a nice woman wrote me a check for
$100. I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t ask for this.â&#x20AC;?
Among the speakers was Carole Hyde, executive director of
the Palo Alto Humane Society,

who criticized outsourcing as a
â&#x20AC;&#x153;radical departureâ&#x20AC;? from the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
long-standing principle of â&#x20AC;&#x153;safe
community.â&#x20AC;?
Under this principle, stray animals are picked up â&#x20AC;&#x153;immediately
before theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re injured and killed
and returned safely to their owners.â&#x20AC;?
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Animals entrusted to the city
rely for the lives and well-being
on good and wise policies,â&#x20AC;? Hyde
said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Humane Society does
not believe that trucking animals
out of the area to crowded facilities and uncertain fates constitutes
good and caring stewardship.â&#x20AC;?
But Hyde was not just voicing an
opinion; she came with a plan.
Since March 30, when Assistant
City Manager Pam Antil shocked
the animal community with the
staffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recommendations, the Humane Society has been crafting its

own proposal for raising revenues,
cutting costs and preserving the local shelter.
The proposal calls for elimination of 4.2 full-time positions,
including the shelterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supervisor,
two animal-control officers and
an animal-services specialist. The
part-time volunteer coordinator
position would be reduced by 25
percent, bringing the total savings
from staff cuts to $430,000.
The proposal also includes
raising revenues by $410,000 by
increasing licensing fees, offering vaccinations on Saturdays
and doubling the output from the
spay/neuter clinic. The group also
proposed establishing a task force
to consider long-term solutions
for animal services, a suggestion
that council members quickly accepted.
Hydeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plan â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and the ani-

Cover Story

Leslie Graham and Loreto Jaca clean a dogâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s teeth at the shelter. Most animals up for
adoption receive teeth cleaning and are spayed or neutered at the shelter.
mal loversâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; uprising â&#x20AC;&#x201D; produced
instant results. Committee chairwoman Karen Holman, whose pets
include a surrendered dog and the
offspring of a lost pregnant cat,
called the communityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feedback
â&#x20AC;&#x153;civic engagement at its very best.â&#x20AC;?
She called the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to
animal services â&#x20AC;&#x153;a value that this
community has held for over 100
yearsâ&#x20AC;? and described the proposal
from Hyde as â&#x20AC;&#x153;very professional and
very impressive.â&#x20AC;? Councilman Sid
Espinosa was even more glowing in
his review.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have contentious issues, and
we take up debate every week,â&#x20AC;? Espinosa said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;But rarely have I seen
... an organization come forward
with a comprehensive set of ideas
like that.â&#x20AC;?
At the meetingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s conclusion, the
committee unanimously agreed that
animal operations should not be outsourced and directed staff to come
up with other ideas for raising revenues and cutting costs. Five days
later, the councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Finance Committee came to a similar decision.
For the first time since the Great
Recession, a staff proposal for outsourcing a major city operation was
rejected and the public sentiment
had prevailed â&#x20AC;&#x201D; at least for now.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Soon the papers were full of letters from readers complaining about
maimed dogs that were swiped from
their home yards and porches,â&#x20AC;?
Bowling wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x153;There was also a
history of the police operating with
a â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;shoot on sightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; policy for strays.â&#x20AC;?

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;We have contentious
issues, and we take
up debate every
week. But rarely
have I seen ... an
organization come
forward with a
comprehensive set of
ideas like that.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Sid Espinosa, Councilman
Then, as now, the Palo Alto Humane Society (which was born in
1908) stepped up to the plate. The
organization rallied to the cause of
strays and helped establish a small
shelter in the yard of Middlefield
Road resident Mrs. Frank Thomas.
This was the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s primary animal
center until 1937, when its first official shelter was built on El Camino
Real â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a site currently occupied by

Cody Macartney, an animal control officer for the City of Palo Alto, checks the health of a
young crow learning to fly in the backyard of a Palo Alto home. Animal services often gets
calls about potentially injured birds during the spring when they are learning to fly.

the Sheraton Hotel. Bowling described the 1937 shelter as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;firstrateâ&#x20AC;? facility, with full kitchen service, one-way receiving kennels and
well-known figures such as Tigger,
a cat who helped clear out gophers
from the parking lot, and Olâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Pa, â&#x20AC;&#x153;a
desert turtle who promenaded along
the kennel fence torturing the yelping puppies below.â&#x20AC;?
Other animals, including monkeys, raccoons, porcupines, ducks,
turtles and skunks, also made their
way to the shelter, Bowling writes,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;not to mention a rare visit from a
wolf or a crocodile.â&#x20AC;?
At times, the Humane Society had
to flex its political muscles to protect
this happy menagerie. In 1961, the
society panned a proposal from the
Stanford University School of Medicine to use the shelterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s unclaimed
animals for laboratory research. The
Societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s then-Director Gerald Dalmadge claimed that taking animals
for research violated the principles
under which the shelter was established. Hyde said Stanford withdrew
the proposal because of â&#x20AC;&#x153;strong public reactionâ&#x20AC;? against it.
The current shelter on East Bayshore opened in 1972 under the auspices of the city and as part of the
larger Municipal Services Center
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a sprawling complex that houses

the bulk of the Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s vehicle
fleet and major portions of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Utilities and Public Works departments.
Despite the shelterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s modest size
and aging kennels, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a clean and
cheerful place bustling with volunteers, veterinarians and a diverse array of pets, from a cancerstricken Pomeranian to a recently
surrendered rat. Dogs and cats in
containers of various sizes share
lobby space with shelter employees
as the latter schedule appointments
and give callers updates about their
petsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; conditions.
The shelter is a popular place.
According to the most recent Service Efforts and Accomplishments
report issued by the City Auditorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Office, 68 percent of Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
respondents rated the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s animal
services as â&#x20AC;&#x153;good or excellent,â&#x20AC;?
placing Palo Alto in the 90th percentile when compared to other cities and municipalities that were surveyed. In fiscal year 2011, Animal
Services responded to 88 percent

of animal calls within 45 minutes
(the Silicon Valley Animal Control
Authority based in Santa Clara responds within 10 hours, Antil said at
a recent meeting, while the City of
San Joseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s animal-control operation
responds â&#x20AC;&#x153;within a day.â&#x20AC;?)
Perhaps most impressively, Palo
Alto has successfully returned 68
percent of dogs and 20 percent of
cats that were received by the shelter to their owners in 2011, surpassing its targets of 65 percent and 8
percent, respectively. Furthermore,
95 percent of the dogs and cats that
were put up for adoption in 2011
were successfully placed in new
homes, according to a recent report
from Police Chief Dennis Burns.
And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just Palo Altans who
frequent the local shelter. Burnsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
report notes that 76 percent of the
animals who were spayed or neutered and 61 percent of those vaccinated in 2011 came from outside of
Palo Alto and its three partner cit(continued on next page)

P

alo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tradition of grassroots animal advocacy is almost as old as the city itself
and includes some of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most
storied figures. The Palo Alto Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals (SPCA), the forerunner
to the local chapter of Humane Society, was born in the earliest days
of the 20th century and included as
its founding members David Starr
Jordan, the first president of Stanford University, and Jane Stanford
herself. According to amateur historian Matt Bowlingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new book,
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Palo Alto Remembered,â&#x20AC;? the two
Stanford leaders helped push for the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first horse watering trough in
the days before automobiles.
Animals returned to the spotlight
in mid-1920s, when Police Chief
C.F. Noble ordered a crackdown on
unlicensed stray dogs. According to
Bowling, Noble hired a man named
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Dick the Dogcatcherâ&#x20AC;? to enforce
this mandate.

Barnaby, a puppy up for adoption, lies in the sun at the Animal Services
center. In 2011, 95 percent of cats and dogs up for adoption were placed
in new homes.

Volunteer Tom Rawson, who volunteers twice a week to help train and
walk the shelterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dogs, works on training Roxie while taking her out for
a walk.
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁ]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 23

CITY OF PALO ALTO
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Cover Story

Saving the Shelter
(continued from previous page)

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Government Code
Sections 66016 and 66018, that the City Council of the City of
Palo Alto will conduct a Public Hearing at a Special Meetings
on June 11, 2012 and June 18, 2012, at 6:00 p.m., or as soon
thereafter as possible, in the Council Chambers, City Hall, 250
Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California, to consider changes to
the Fiscal Year 2013 Municipal Fee Schedule, including new fees,
and increases to existing fees. Copies of the fee schedule setting
forth any proposed new fees, and increases to existing fees are
available on the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website and in the Administrative Services
Department, 4th Floor, City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto,
California. There is a $3.00 per copy charge for this publication.
DONNA J. GRIDER, MMC
City Clerk

PALO ALTO CITY COUNCIL
CIVIC CENTER, 250 HAMILTON AVENUE
BROADCAST LIVE ON KZSU, FM 90.1
CABLECAST LIVE ON GOVERNMENT ACCESS CHANNEL 26

*****************************************
THIS IS A SUMMARY OF COUNCIL AGENDA ITEMS. THE AGENDA
WITH COMPLETE TITLES INCLUDING LEGAL DOCUMENTATION CAN
BE VIEWED AT THE BELOW WEBPAGE:

http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/knowzone/agendas/council.asp
(TENTATIVE) AGENDAâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;SPECIAL MEETING-COUNCIL CHAMBERS
June 4, 2012 - 5:30 PM
CLOSED SESSION
1. Labor
SPECIAL ORDERS OF THE DAY
2. Gunn Robotics Team Presentation
CONSENT CALENDAR
3. Approval of Contract with VOX
4. Hewlett Packard Network Switches
5. Approval of Contract with Radovich Corp. dba Cal Coast Telecom
6. Appointment of Paul Goldstein as the Palo Alto Bicycle Advisory
Committee Representative to the Valley Transportation Authorityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bicycle
and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
7. Approval of a Contract Amendment to Extend BMS Design Group Contract
(C11138343) and to Increase Funds of $25,000 to Complete the Palo Alto
Rail Corridor Study.
8. Submittal of Mitchell Park Library and Community Center Monthly
Construction Contract Report and Council Direction to Staff to Continue
Construction Contract Monthly Reports
9. Approval of Contract Amendment with Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District
(PAUSD) in which the City of Palo Alto (City) will to Provide Fiscal Services for
the PAUSD 2012 Summer Enrichment Program and Provide Collaborative
After-School Summer Programs
10. SECOND READING: Adoption Of A PC Ordinance for the Proposed Lytton
Gateway Project to Amend the Zoning Map of the City Of Palo Alto to
Change the Zone Designations From CDC-P and CDN-P to a Planned
Community (PC) District to Allow a Mixed OfďŹ ce and Retail, Four-Story, 50
Foot Tall Building (and a 70 Foot Tall Corner Tower Feature) on the Former
Shell Station Site, Located at 355 And 335 Alma Street. The Project
Includes Exceptions to the Daylight Plane and 35-Foot Height Limit Within
150 Feet of Residential Property. *Quasi-Judicial. (Continued from 5/7/12)
(1st reading was passed on 5-14-12. Passed 7-2, Holman, Schmid, No)
11. Authorize the City Manager to Enter into an Agreement with the Town of
Los Altos Hills and the County of Santa Clara for the Recovery of Costs for
Improvements at Page Mill Road & Buena Vista Avenue-Moody Road
12. Adoption of a Resolution Approving a Professional Services Agreement
between the Northern California Power Agency and the Cities of Alameda,
Palo Alto and Santa Clara for Electric Transmission, Generation and
Regulatory Consulting Services
13. Approval of a Resolution Calling General Municipal Election for Four Council
Seats (Burt, Espinosa, Schmid, Yeh)
ACTION ITEMS
14. Public Hearing: 195 Page Mill Road and 2865 Park Boulevard (continued
from 5/14/12)
15. Approval of Budget and Schedule for Technical Analysis of Hazardous
Materials Implications for Zoning at CPI and Other Locations
STANDING COMMITTEE MEETINGS
The Finance Committee meeting will be held on June 5, 2012 at 6:00 PM.
regarding; 1) SAP Security Audit

ies, Mountain View, Los Altos and
Los Altos Hills. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not uncommon
for animal owners from as far away
as Danville and Milpitas to visit the
shelter, staff said.
Burnsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; report also identifies a
number of options for keeping a local shelter but cutting staffing levels
and drastically reducing services.
One option, which would save the
city close to $200,000 annually,
would include (among other changes) the elimination of an animalcontrol officer and scrapping the
shelterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s in-house veterinarian and
veterinary technician. But, as the report makes clear, even contracting
out veterinary services but keeping
the shelter would have significant
repercussions for animals, particularly ones with non-life-threatening
problems.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Currently, the City Veterinarian
handles medical issues that are not
chronic in nature and with a positive outcome could make an animal
adoptable,â&#x20AC;? Burns wrote. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some
examples of these life-saving procedures are: amputation, eye enucleation, splinting, hernia repair,
cryptorchid surgeries and cherry
eye. Treatments such as those listed
are done in the regular course of
work by the veterinary staff, and
adoption or rescue is the likely outcome. If these procedures were to be
contracted out to regular veterinary
practices the costs associated with
these services may make them unobtainable and the animal would be
euthanized.â&#x20AC;?

P

alo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current animal
quandary grew out of a convergence of three mostly unrelated causes: the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spiking
employee expenditures, its decaying infrastructure and the recent
departure of Mountain View from
the long-standing partnership in the
shelter.
Palo Alto may be home to some
of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s richest residents and
hottest companies, but city finances
are a whole other matter. The General Fund, which pays for most
basic city services (not including
utilities), relies heavily on sales-tax
revenues, which plummeted during
the 2008 economic slump (this year,
they finally roared back to their
pre-Great Recession levels). At the

Luke Stangel, an organizer of Save Our Shelter, meets with volunteer
Fran Montez, left, and other members of the group to discuss
fundraising ideas for the shelter.
same time, pension and health care
costs for employees have soared in
recent years, prompting an annual
scramble by Keene and the council
to balance the city budget without
significantly reducing the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
scope of services.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I was going out and
talking to people and
nine times out of 10
they were completely
up on this issue.
Everyone knew about
it, and they were very
concerned about the
issue.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;
â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Luke Stangel, member,
Friends of Palo Alto
Animal Shelter
Though the council has passed a
series of cost-cutting reforms â&#x20AC;&#x201D; including a 10 percent staff reduction
and cuts to employee benefits â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the
impacts on the larger community
have been minimal.
In this climate of budget cuts,
outsourcing has emerged as an increasingly attractive option. These
include the print shop, upkeep of the
Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course,
janitorial services and maintenance
of local parks.
The effort generally has proceeded smoothly, with few protests
or major mistakes (the only notable

Volunteer Scottie Zimmerman listens to Luke Stangel at a meeting at
the Palo Alto CafĂŠ on Middlefield Road. The group is in the process of
becoming an official nonprofit called Friends of Palo Alto Animal Shelter.

snafu occurred in September 2010,
when the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contractor overpruned the trees on California Avenue, prompting an apology from
the city). Palo Alto residents may be
a vocal bunch, but few seem to care
where their budget documents get
printed or who prunes the trees at
Rinconada Park, as long as they are
pruned well. Given that outsourcing has become a reliable tool in the
cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s cost-reduction kit, perhaps it
should have come as no surprise that
staff proposed the same fate for animal services.
The councilâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newfound focus on
repairing infrastructure has also
thrust the animal shelter into the
foreground. Last year, a 17-member
commission issued a detailed report surveying the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s infrastructure problems and recommending
ways to pay for the repairs and new
construction. In its section on the
Municipal Services Center and the
Animal Services Center, the Infrastructure Blue Ribbon Commission
wrote that the â&#x20AC;&#x153;aging facilities have
been in need of upgrade or replacement for many years.â&#x20AC;? It also recommended the city re-examine
its strategy for providing animal
services and consider â&#x20AC;&#x153;a closer relationship with regional providers
such as the Silicon Valley Animal
Control Authority.â&#x20AC;?
But the most critical driver of
the ongoing dilemma is Mountain
Viewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision last year to ditch its
nearly 20-year-long partnership in
the Palo Alto shelter and to switch
over to Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority, which boasts a brand
new 15,500-square-foot facility with
cage-free kennels. Mountain Viewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
departure means Palo Alto will no
longer be getting the $470,000 in
annual contributions from Mountain View. It also means that the cost
to Palo Alto of keeping the animal
shelter running with existing services is slated to go up from $1 million
to about $1.5 million annually.
Given the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s structural budget deficits and cuts in other departments, the cost of keeping the
shelter open is big, Keene told the
committee.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think, in any of these
situations, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re just looking at a
$300,000 or a $500,000 operational gap,â&#x20AC;? Keene said at the May 10
meeting of the Policy and Services
Committee. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re saying that over
the next 10 years, the $300,000 or
$500,000 in savings is $3 million

Cover Story
NOTICE OF A PUBLIC MEETING
Of the City of Palo Alto
Transportation Division

or $5 million and that matters a lot
as far as what it means for other services that the city provides.â&#x20AC;?

A

t the May 10 committee meeting, Councilman Espinosa
concluded his comments by
beseeching speakers to stay involved in the issue and to help the
city find a way to make animal
services financially sustainable.
Two weeks later, a group of about
a dozen die-hard animal advocates,
including Hyde, Zimmerman and
Luke Stangel, met at Palo Alto CafĂŠ
on Middlefield Road to put Espinosaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plea into action. It was the inaugural meeting of Friends of Palo
Alto Animal Shelter, a group that is
now in the process of becoming an
official nonprofit organization.
Palo Alto has no shortage of
Friends groups. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Friends of
the Palo Alto Library, which holds
monthly book sales to raise money
for libraries, and Friends of the Palo
Alto Parks, which does the same for
local playgrounds and open spaces.
Friends of Lytton Plaza, a collection
of developers and business people,
helped remodel the prominent downtown plaza in 2009, while Friends of
the Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Theatre raises funds
to keep the acclaimed theater operation running at an affordable rate for
participants.
In most cases, these groups come
together to promote new services
or to protect existing ones from the
budget ax. The fact that manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best
friend hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t had a Friends group
to reciprocate the friendship says
less about the public attitude toward
animals than it does about the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
legacy of offering to the community
a vast array of state-of-the-art animal services. There simply hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
been a need, until now, for a Friends
group to protect animal services
from budget cuts.
At its first meeting, the group sat
around a long table and brainstormed
ways to raise money and awareness.
Stangel, an active member of the
nascent â&#x20AC;&#x153;Save Our Shelterâ&#x20AC;? organization, led the discussion, which
ranged from potential fundraising
events to the groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name. Maureen Allen, one of the participants,
lobbied for â&#x20AC;&#x153;animal servicesâ&#x20AC;? over
â&#x20AC;&#x153;animal shelterâ&#x20AC;? in the title. Stangel advocated for keeping â&#x20AC;&#x153;shelter,â&#x20AC;?
even though â&#x20AC;&#x201D; technically speaking â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it is the services inside the
shelter rather than the building itself
that are now under fire. When most

Shelter supporters met at the Palo Alto CafĂŠ May 23 for the first meeting
of the nonprofit Friends of Palo Alto Animal Shelter.
people think about the local animal
programs, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the shelter that comes
to mind, Stangel said. The debate
concluded with no resolution.
The discussion then turned to
fundraising, and there was no shortage of ideas â&#x20AC;&#x201D; from donation cans
at local classrooms and agility challenges at city fairs to dog-friendly
concerts in the park and designated
dinner days at participating restaurants, with a portion of proceeds
going to Animal Services. Then
thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the work of maintaining the
organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s day-to-day operations. Stangel and two other members are now in the midst of creating
a website for the new Friends group
to solicit donations and inform the

community about progress and upcoming events.
Stangel, a former newspaper reporter who now lives in San Jose
and works for a startup company,
said he was shocked when he first
heard that the city is considering
outsourcing animal services.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kind of like if they had announced that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re considering
outsourcing libraries or outsourcing
the Fire Department,â&#x20AC;? said Stangel,
owner of two cats and a dog. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To
me, personally, it seems like itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one
of those critical city services that absolutely should not be outsourced.â&#x20AC;?
Stangel was one of the first to

This public meeting will be an opportunity for City Staff to
provide an update of the Re-Striping trial and on-going
data collection effort. Members of the community are
encouraged to provide input on parking strategies and the
current parking permit program. The meeting will provide
input and Comment to City Staff.
AGENDA

Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District
Strong Schools Bond â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Oversight Committee
The Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School District Board of
Education seeks three applicants for appointment
to the independent, volunteer Strong Schools Bond
Citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Oversight Committee. The Committee
reviews and report to the public on the Districtâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bond
expenditures. Applicants must reside within the Palo
Alto UniďŹ ed School District. An applicant may not be
an employee, contractor, consultant, or vendor of the
District.
The successful applicants will serve a two-year term
that will extend from the date of appointment to August
22, 2014.
The purpose of the Citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Oversight Committee
(COC) is to inform the public concerning the
expenditure of bond revenues. The COC is required
by state law to actively review and report on the
proper expenditure of taxpayersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; money for school
construction.
Application forms can be obtained by writing to: Dr.
Kevin Skelly, Superintendent, Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School
District, 25 Churchill Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306,
or by emailing: lbaranoff@pausd.org. You can obtain
information by phone by calling 650-329-3737.
Completed applications must be sent to: Dr. Kevin
Skelly, Superintendent, Palo Alto UniďŹ ed School
District, 25 Churchill Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306, or
emailed to: lbaranoff@pausd.org. All applications
must be received by Friday, June 15, 2012 at 4:30
pm.
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁ]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 25

Cover Story

Saving the Shelter

Pa
lo
Alto

(continued from previous page)

COOK
OFF
& Summer Festival

of

31st Annual

ty
i
C

join a fledgling â&#x20AC;&#x153;Save Our Shelterâ&#x20AC;?
Facebook group that Zimmerman
launched shortly after the proposal
to outsource animal services was
made. He then created a petition
imploring the city to keep the shelter running. The message spread
quickly and as of last week there
were more than 2,000 signatures
and counting, he said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s incredible. I was going out
and talking to people and nine times
out of 10 they were completely up on
this issue,â&#x20AC;? Stangel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Everyone
knew about it, and they were very
concerned about the issue.â&#x20AC;?
Now, his group hopes to channel
this energy into its fundraising efforts. All the donations that have
been collected thus far will be kept
by the Humane Society while the
new Friends group completes the
process of filing for nonprofit incorporation. The goal, he said, is
to raise at least $100,000 in its first
year and to set higher benchmarks
in future years.
The group has already scheduled
its first fundraising dinner, which is
set for June 19 at Gordon Biersch in
downtown Palo Alto. Further down
the line, it is eyeing events such as a
5K race in the Baylands and a gala
dinner.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The energy behind this effort is
so high,â&#x20AC;? Stangel said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re having people coming out and just asking how they can send money.â&#x20AC;?
The group has already succeeded
in changing the conversation at the
council level, with both council
committees agreeing that the shelter
should not be shuttered. Now, Stangel hopes the group can raise enough
money to compensate for Mountain
Viewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s departure and, in doing so,
convince the council to keep the
budget cuts for Animal Services
to a minimum. The goal, he said,
is to keep the city from adopting a
â&#x20AC;&#x153;permanent solutionâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sweeping
service reductions â&#x20AC;&#x201D; for the â&#x20AC;&#x153;temporary problemâ&#x20AC;? brought about by
Mountain Viewâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s withdrawal.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Is it reasonable for us to ask the
council to please run (animal services) at a greater deficit because
weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll pick up the slack?â&#x20AC;? Stangel
said at the conclusion of the Friends
groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first meeting. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our group
will help raise the money.â&#x20AC;? N
Staff Writer Gennady Sheyner
can be emailed at gsheyner@
paweekly.com.
About the cover: Tom
Rawson, a volunteer at Palo
Alto Animal Services, greets
Sadie, a pit-bull mix that was
found as a stray. Rawson
volunteers twice a week to
help train and walk the dogs.
Photo by Veronica Weber.

NOW IN ITS FOURTH YEAR, WORLD MUSIC DAY
ADDS TANGO, FLAMENCO AND OTHER DANCERS
by Rebecca Wallace
tâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to take opera seriously when someoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s playing a kazoo in your ear.
Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one of the biggest challenges Claude
Ezran faces each year in organizing World
Music Day: making sure the performers donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
overlap, acoustically. There are only so many
corners and plazas and sidewalks in downtown
Palo Alto where musicians can play without being too close to each other.
So this June 17, with the free outdoor event
in its fourth year, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stretching out again: geographically (adding a few blocks), numerically
(adding a few performers, up to about 54 from
48), and creatively. This year, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just about
the music. Folkloric dance groups have also
been invited. Acts will perform in various sessions between 3 and 7:30 p.m.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Every year we try to see what else can we do,
how can we raise the bar,â&#x20AC;? Ezran said.
The East Palo Alto group Raices de Mexico,
which gives dance classes and performances,
is joining the program this year. The Greene
Academy will contribute Irish dancing; George
Nicol will teach and show off Argentine tango;
and Arte Flamenco will stomp on the avenue.
Nachda Punjab & Balle Balle Bhangra Boys
contribute Punjabi folk dances.
As in years past, the musical program is also
a veritable United Nations. Performers will include: the VL Trio, playing Cuban and Puerto
Rican music; French folk groups Les Campagnards and Side By Side; Yiddish klezmer ensemble Hot Kugel; T-Rosemond playing Haitian
sounds; Singing Wood Marimba bringing music from Zimbabwe; and Blues Kazoo playing
American folk and ragtime.
Classical players include Palo Alto violinist
and violist Beâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;eri Moalem, opera singer Catherine Vincenti, the youthful Palo Alto Chamber
Orchestra and the Quark String Quartet. Pop
and rock performers include Heroâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Last Mission, Sisters In Crime, Ashley Mendez and Pete
Kelso and his Ragadelic Orchestra.
Three bands will play King Plaza: the T
Clemente rock â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;nâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; roll band, acoustic folk-rock
group Acoustic Son, and the Latin-music band
Tribal Heat.
Last year, the city closed University Avenue to
cars for the first time during World Music Day,
and that will happen again.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We have so many people that you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t leave

Charlotte Dean

music
and
dance
Pete Kelso rocking out at last yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s World Music Day in downtown Palo Alto.

University Avenue open. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not
enough room on the sidewalks,â&#x20AC;? Ezran
said. He estimated that about 21,000
people attended last year, approximately double the 2010 count.
Ezran started the event in 2009, inspired by the many World Music Days
that have fanned out out all over the
globe since the original affair began
in France in 1982. The philosophy is
to provide, well, a world of music: free
to the public, with musicians donating
their performances.
The original goal was to have World
Music Day happen on the longest day
of the year, the summer solstice. In Palo
Alto, the event is on the closest Sunday
to the solstice, which also happens to be
Fatherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day.
Since Ezran founded the event, it has
grown from his grassroots celebration to
a festival in which the city has become
â&#x20AC;&#x153;a wonderful partner,â&#x20AC;? Ezran said. Palo
Alto waives fees on permits, prints marketing programs and contributes some
staff time. Ezran remains executive director, with seven or eight regular volunteers helping him, and more on the
day to hand out programs.
(continued on page 28)

Still, the event retains its basic focus: music for free. Sometimes other
musicians show up on their own
and play, which Ezran says doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
bother him as long as they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t infringe on the other musicians. There
arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t booths or T-shirt tables or other
promotions. This year, an iced-tea
company approached Ezran about
handing out samples, but he said that
would be too commercial. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not
what we do.â&#x20AC;?
Ezran, who chairs Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Human Relations Commission, hails
from France and takes great pleasure in seeing how the â&#x20AC;&#x153;FĂŞte de la

Musiqueâ&#x20AC;? has spread from his native
country â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and within it.
One year on World Music Day, he
traveled to Paris and was pleasantly
surprised to see that the festival had
even taken hold in a terminal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I landed at the airport and they were there,
classical music.â&#x20AC;? N
What: The free outdoor World Music
Day festival returns to downtown Palo
Alto.
Where: More than 50 music and dance
acts will perform outside, with University
Avenue closed from High Street to Webster Street. Performers will also spread
out south on Bryant and Ramona
streets down to King Plaza at City Hall.

More swinging
and singing
Free summer concerts start up
by Rebecca Wallace

I

f you tried to combine elements of all the bands
set to play at free outdoor concerts in Palo Alto
and Stanford this summer, you wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even get
halfway before the stage would be full.
Youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d have a boogie-woogie Hawaiian-Vivaldi-Motown ensemble with a wicked jazz drummer and a guy
who sings like Mick Jagger and plays the piano with
his feet. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably good that the concert is free.
Fortunately, all these bands get their own show
times. As in years past, several al fresco concert series
kick off locally in June. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the season of impromptu
picnics and dancing in the grass.
SFJAZZ brings its Summerfest to Stanford Shopping
Center from June 14 through Aug. 16, holding shows
on Thursdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m. between Nordstrom
and Crate & Barrel. Steve Lucky (who really can play
with his feet) and The Rhumba Bums start the series
with swing and jump blues on the 14th. Other performers include: the Stanford Jazz Workshop Faculty AllStars on June 21; the fusion-focused Citizen Rhythm
Project on June 28; the Guitar Goddesses on July 5;
and the Latin-jazz ensemble Project de Congueros on
July 12. Go to sfjazz.org
In Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Town & Country Village center,
bands play Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. under the
oak trees near the Embarcadero Road entrance. Four
are scheduled: the romantic Jules Broussard & Friends
on July 11; the early-â&#x20AC;&#x2122;60s California Beach Party on
July 18; the Motown tribute band Top Shelf on July 25;
and Double Funk Crunch on Aug. 1. Go to tandcvillage.com.

A recent album cover from the blues-gospel-soul
band Quinn DeVeaux and the Blue Beat Review,
who will perform at Stanford Shopping Center on
Aug. 16.
The city of Palo Alto starts its annual Twilight Concert Series on June 30 with an Air Force musical ensemble. Concerts are at 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays through
Aug. 18, with June and July shows at Rinconada Park
and August concerts in Mitchell Park. Other performers will include: the â&#x20AC;&#x153;hippieâ&#x20AC;? band Moonalice on July
14; the rock band Luce on July 21; jazz trombonist
Wayne Wallace on Aug. 4; and The Unauthorized
Rolling Stones on Aug. 11. Go to cityofpaloalto.org.
Stanford Hospital holds its summer concert series
at noon every other Tuesday from June 5 through Oct.
9 on the rear patio of the Cancer Center. Offerings
include: Hawaiian music from Trader Vicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Survivor
Band on June 5; classic jazz from Sound Circle on
June 19; western swing by the Saddle Cats on July
3; and Caribbean music played by the Phil Hawkins
Group on July 17. Call 650-725-2892. N

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Dysfunctional fun
Family comedy sparks laughs and sympathetic cringing,
but could pick up the pace
by Kevin Kirby

D

ragon Productions wants us
to believe that the Richard
Dresser comedy â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wonderful
Worldâ&#x20AC;? is a play about the havoc that
too much truth-telling can wreak on
an otherwise placid extended family. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marketing blurb
and the program notes from director
Susannah Greenwood both focus on
this idea.
Certainly there is an extended
family: mild-mannered Max, a guidance counselor; older brother Barry,
a motivational speaker; their harddrinking mother, Lydia; Barryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
wife, Patty, who runs a charity; and
Maxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s girlfriend, Jennifer.
And there is unquestionably havoc. When Patty takes umbrage at a
misunderstood dinner invitation, it
results in a rift that threatens to destroy her marriage to Barry as well as
Max and Jenniferâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s newly announced
engagement. But as for the assertion
that the havoc results from an overdose of honesty ... well ...
OK, sure, the truth hurts. But the
family is dysfunctional because â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
quite simply â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it is composed of
deeply dysfunctional people.
Max (nicely played by Jason
Arias) is utterly spineless. His desire
to make everyone happy, all the time,
allows misunderstandings to fester,

THEATER REVIEW
and his repressed jealousy at his
brotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success keeps him perennially miserable.
Jennifer (or â&#x20AC;&#x153;Poor Jennifer,â&#x20AC;? as
Maxâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family calls her) is a bit of a
doormat herself. As played by Carlye
Pollack, she is both a perfect and a
terrible match for Max: We believe
that their relationship is comfortable,
but we also sense that their combined
timidity may lead to disaster.
Barry, on the other hand, is a native slacker married to a martinet,
a woman whose five-year-plan for
her fixer-upper hubby has pushed
him into a life for which he seems
ill-suited and ill at ease. The same
might be said of the casting of Kyle
Wood as Barry. Wood canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem to
find a consistent through-line for his
character; his performance hits notes
of arrogance, cluelessness and bathos
that sadly do not add up to a complex
characterization. He does, however,
have a flair for tossing off bizarre
non sequiturs.
Shareen Merriam also provides
some wonderful comic moments as
Lydia, the passive-aggressive, emotionally remote matriarch.
And then thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Patty, played with
toughness and nearly enough verve

by ej Taylor. Patty is a force of nature
... and not one of those benign, lifenurturing forces like osmosis, but a
force of pure destruction. Rigid, manipulative, quick to anger and maddeningly literal-minded, she wields
the truth the way Freddy Krueger
wields those metal claws. When she
believes herself excluded from the
dinner invite, she flies into a snit, issuing a written statement to demand
an apology. Naturally, the more everyone tries to accommodate Pattyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
behavior, the worse things get.
But truth, qua truth, is not the
problem here. The problem is the
cruel and/or callous application of
the truth, the years of polite lying
that preceded the truth, and the fact
that many of the truths are actually
secrets shared in confidence. This
may not be an important distinction,
but when a talented group of artists
comes together to produce a generally solid show that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t quite
â&#x20AC;&#x153;spark,â&#x20AC;? one canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but try to
puzzle out whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s gone wrong.
Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s be clear: Dragonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s production offers plenty of laughs and more
than a few squirmy moments of recognition. But the laughs should come
thicker and faster. By treating Dresserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s play as a cautionary tale against
candor, Greenwood and her cast aim
for a sort of Everyman realism that
prevents them from fully exploring
the absurd, even farcical aspects of
the script. Rather than embracing the
absurdity and letting the humor flow
from the charactersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; life-or-death
commitment to their own untenable
positions, the actors are left mugging
for laughs and relying on Dresserâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

sit-com rhythms to produce a punch
line every few sentences. In short,
they need to bump up the crazy â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and the tempo â&#x20AC;&#x201D; until this puppy
boils.
There is one scene, in the second
act, where they nearly get there. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Thanksgiving, and the strained family is gathered at Lydiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house, where
the walls are lined with a dozen or
more out-of-sync clocks. While relating a story, Jennifer happens to make
an owl noise, which is immediately
challenged by Patty. Soon, the two of
them are hooting at the tops of their
lungs as they lean in on Max from
both sides, demanding that he choose
the better owl imitation. Pollack and
Taylor both cut loose, and there is
a moment of comic frisson as the
bonds of reasonableness fall away.
The show could use more of that.
Interestingly, set designer Neal
Ormond also seems held back by a
misplaced desire for realism. His set
comprises a three-armed turnstile:
three walls joined at a central pivot
to create three shallow rooms, only
one of which is visible at any time.
At the end of each scene, the turnstile rotates to reveal a new locale.
The unseen rooms can be re-dressed
(with different wall hangings, etc.),
allowing Pattyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office, for instance,
to reappear later as a hospital waiting room.
This might seem like a good way
to cram nine locations onto Dragonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
stage. But the turnstile leaves twothirds of the stage off limits, leading to highly unnatural blocking as
the actors cross and recross in their
awkwardly shallow living spaces.

Further, since the floor does not rotate along with the walls, the furniture must be carted about by actors in
near darkness, eliminating any time
savings.
To his credit, Ormond has built an
attractive, finished-looking set with
chair rails, proper drapery brackets,
faux-textured painting, etc. But, in
the end, the production might have
been better served if he had given
up on literal representation, scattered some multi-purpose furniture
around an empty playing space, and
given the cast room for some more
expansive acting.
Finally, sound designer James
Kasyan deserves a nod for his choice
of scene-change music. He covers the
shifts with familiar songs that also
illuminate the playâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s themes. Billy
Joelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Honestyâ&#x20AC;? makes an early appearance, but â&#x20AC;&#x201D; lest we believe that
thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all the show is about â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so does
John Lennonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mind Games.â&#x20AC;?
Whatever moral you may take
from the story, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wonderful Worldâ&#x20AC;?
is a funny look at family dysfunction spinning out of control. Perfect
or not, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s another worthwhile effort
from Dragon Productions. And thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
the truth. N
What: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Wonderful World,â&#x20AC;? a play presented by Dragon Productions
Where: Dragon Theatre, 535 Alma St.,
Palo Alto
When: Through June 17, ThursdaySaturday at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2.
Cost: Tickets are $25 general, $20 for
seniors and $16 for students.
Info: Go to dragonproductions.net or
call 800-838-3006.

Aida (Karen
Slack) agonizes
over whether
to help her
father (Douglas
Botnick) or the
man she loves.

The Egyptian tragedy â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Aidaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; sounds sublime
at West Bay Opera
by Rebecca Wallace

OPERA REVIEW
Bay general director Jose Luis Moscovich.
This production doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have
Moscovich wielding the baton,
though. He recently underwent back
surgery, and it was all he could do to
give the curtain speech on opening
night, leaning on a cane.
The music didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t suffer. Conducted by Michel Singher â&#x20AC;&#x201D; whose
West Bay credits include â&#x20AC;&#x153;Don Giovanniâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the production sounded
splendid. The orchestra skillfully
conjured up the required richness,
with harpist Randall Pratt a lyrical
highlight. And Slack was matched
by many other strong voices.
The story begins on the eve of
war between Egypt and Ethiopia,
with its human focus on the love triangle. Aida is a servant to the Pha-

Otak Jump

S

ome voices have the power but
lack the grace. Karen Slackâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
soprano is a supple instrument
suited to all the extremes of Verdiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aida.â&#x20AC;?
As the Ethiopian princess-turnedslave trapped in a love triangle, Slack
erupts with passion, or dreamily laments the loss of Aidaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s homeland.
A voice that strong surprises with its
sudden gentleness.
Slack is the star around which
West Bay Operaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s current production of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aidaâ&#x20AC;? orbits, and she is by
necessity a bright one. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the first
time this intimate company has
taken on the large-scale classic.
To match the grandeur in the music, West Bay has also brought in
gleaming costumes, fanciful headdresses, ballet and contemporary
dancers, and â&#x20AC;&#x153;the largest chorus in
recent memory,â&#x20AC;? according to West

raohâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s daughter, Amneris (Cybele
Gouverneur), who adores Egyptian military hero RadamĂ¨s (David
Gustafson). But RadamĂ¨s and Aida
share a secret passion.
There are myriad declarations
of war and love, and ethereal har-

monies sung in a temple, where
the female chorus and the offstage
voice of the High Priestess (Allanda
Small) are exquisite. Dancers reenact battles and try to distract the
lovesick Amneris. There is much
wartime plotting.

Throughout, the music and voices
remain highlights, as they should.
Tenor Gustafson â&#x20AC;&#x201D; who brought
such velvet to â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nessun dormaâ&#x20AC;? in
West Bayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recent â&#x20AC;&#x153;Turandotâ&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
was a welcome return. Bass-baritone Isaiah Musik-Ayala was composed and imposing as Ramfis, the
High Priest.
Douglas Botnick was less imposing as Amonasro, Aidaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kingly father, with his wild curls and peculiar
ragtag costumes. Still, his voiceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
conviction could not be faulted.
Gouverneur was properly imperious, but her lower register sounded
hesitant in the trio â&#x20AC;&#x153;Vieni, o diletta,
appressati (Come, oh delight, come
closer)â&#x20AC;? with Slack and Gustafson,
making her hard to hear.
Visually, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aidaâ&#x20AC;? also felt uncertain at times. The chorusâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; movements were often uneven (and even
the principal singers had their stiff
moments), and many scene changes
were slow and noisy. Jittery lighting
distracted.
Ideally, these things will have
smoothed out by the second weekend, allowing audiences to focus
on the universal themes at the heart
of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aidaâ&#x20AC;?: love and loss, romantic
love versus family loyalty, and life
and death. Getting to the heart of
the matter is what this production
does best. N
Info: Remaining performances of
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Aidaâ&#x20AC;? are June 2 at 8 p.m. and June
3 at 2 p.m., in the Lucie Stern Theatre
at 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto.
Tickets are $40-$70. Go to wbopera.
org or call 650-424-9999.

When you, or someone
you care about,
needs assistance...
you can count on us
to be there.
We provide Peninsula
families with top,
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Eating Out
FOOD FEATURE

Local cook curries favor with blog
Rashmi Rustagi finds shortcuts to make traditional Indian fare easier for home cooks
by Eric Van Susteren

W

hen Rashmi Rustagi cooked
for Diwali, the Indian festival of lights, it took nearly
six weeks of full-time kitchen work
to prepare 56 dishes: pickles, curries, dahls and sweets.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I invited everyone,â&#x20AC;? she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The whole idea of Diwali is to
bring everyone into your kitchen.â&#x20AC;?
Rustagi, understandably exhausted by the event, hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cooked for
Diwali recently, but the Mountain
View resident still invites the public into her kitchen to learn to create traditional Indian fare using her
blog, www.rashmisrecipes.com.
She said she started the blog to
share with her grown children the
traditional recipes they had loved
growing up. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some of these foods
arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t available at Indian restaurants,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re the homey
dishes that are lost if your mother
doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t cook it for you.â&#x20AC;?
But Rustagi said her kids donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t
have the patience to cook dishes
like jagrey-coated sev, sugar-covered noodles made from chickpea
flour, or sweet gujhia dumplings,
which she painstakingly closes and
decorates by pressing the dough
with her fingernail.
She said she adapted the recipes
on her blog to respond to the issues
of complexity and kitchen time.
They arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that different from the
dishes she learned growing up in her
motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s kitchen in Lucknow, India.
She tries to find ways to cut corners
and shorten time in the kitchen by
using slightly different ingredients
or newer technology, like pressure
cookers and hand blenders, that
werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t available in Lucknow.
Rustagi said adaptation has been
a key ingredient to her success as a
cook. After she married and moved
to the United States, she had to get
creative with ingredients, many of

which were difficult to find in Birmingham, Ala. She grew hard-tofind herbs in her garden or substituted ingredients, such as using ricotta
cheese instead of khoa.
The ingredient drought eased
when she moved to Palo Alto 15
years ago, but she still uses mostly
local produce and has found other
reasons to update her recipes. Both
she and her son are lactose-intolerant, so Rustagi found a way to make
paneer cheese using Lactaid lactosereduced milk.
Even with Rustagiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s simplified recipes, Indian dishes arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the easiest
to make. Rustagiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s recipe for butter
chicken, murg makhani, calls for 28
ingredients. To help show the technique for making some of the more
difficult dishes, Rustagi began to include video tutorials on her blog.
Including video was a natural transition for Rustagi, who likes being in
front of the camera. She said sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
been on stage or on radio programs
since she was 9 years old. Most recently, she appeared in a minor role
in the superhero blockbuster â&#x20AC;&#x153;The
Avengers,â&#x20AC;? and has also appeared in
numerous Bollywood pictures and
television roles, she said. In 2005,
she was in TheatreWorksâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; premiere
of the Tanya Shaffer culture-clash
drama â&#x20AC;&#x153;Baby Taj.â&#x20AC;?
Rustagi says the ultimate goal
would be to have her own cooking
show, an idea both she and her producer are excited about.
Rustagi tries to include mostly
vegetarian dishes in her blog, but
sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s found that dishes with meat in
them like chicken biryani get more
web traffic than vegetarian dishes
like palak paneer. Her favorite â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
and she thinks most underrated
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; is dahl, a thick stew made from
beans or lentils.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a whole world of legumes

to be used in cooking, even to make
desserts,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I want people to
open up to cooking them a lot more
for their health benefits.â&#x20AC;?
Although she enjoys keeping her
blog up to date, writing down recipes isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t as much fun as cooking,
she said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have to pay attention to time
and portions rather than when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
just free-cooking,â&#x20AC;? she said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It gives
me a lot of pleasure to get into the
zone and do something I love.â&#x20AC;? N

Expires June 30, 2012

PA

FREE SKIN CANCER
SCREENING
Dermatologists from Stanford Hospital & Clinics will be on
hand to check for unusual moles or irregular blemishes that
could signify the onset of skin cancer. If you have had the following, this free screening is for you:
Fair skin and excessive exposure to the sun
t Many moles or atypical moles
t A parent or sibling who has had skin cancer
t

Asset of the Month: Safety
Feeling safe at home, at school, and in the community is
necessary for young peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s health and well-being.
Â&#x2021; +DYHDJHDSSURSULDWHGLVFXVVLRQVDERXW
personal safety
Â&#x2021; %HDQÂ˛DVNDEOHDGXOWÂłWKDW\RXWKFDQDSSURDFK
Â&#x2021; 0RGHOVDIHEHKDYLRUV

DEVELOPMENTAL ASSETS
are the positive relationships,
opportunities, values and
skills that young people
need to grow and thrive.

A FLOCK OF GROCERS ... Going
out for a quart of milk will get a lot
easier, with four new grocery stores
getting closer to opening in this
area. The Fresh Market, a North
Carolina-based, European-style
market, will open its first West Coast
store in Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Edgewood Plaza
on Embarcadero Road. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Fresh
Market will be breaking ground
soon in Edgewood Plaza for an expected opening in late 2012 or early
2013,â&#x20AC;? said Thomas Fehrenbach,
city economic development director. Meanwhile, construction is well
underway for the new market on the
northeast corner of El Camino Real
and San Antonio Road in Mountain
View. It is expected to open under
the Sprouts Farmers Market banner due to Sproutsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; recent merger
with Sunflower Farmers Market. The
grocer is taking over the former sites
of Rasputin Music and DSW Shoes
(Rasputin moved and reopened earlier this year at 1939 El Camino Real
in Mountain View). Close behind is
Mikiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Farm Fresh Produce, gearing up for a late summer/early fall
move-in date in Alma Plaza on East
Meadow Drive in Palo Alto. Lastly,
the 64,700-square-foot Safeway on
the southeast corner of El Camino
Real and San Antonio Road in
Mountain View is now estimated to
be completed by the end of the year,
city planner Melinda Denis said. (A
Safeway official had said the company was shooting for 2013, possibly.)

THE RETURN OF DITTMERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ...
Sausage lovers wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to wait
much longer. Dittmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Gourmet
Meats and Wurst-Haus is putting
the finishing touches on its new Los
Altos store, scheduled to open this
month. Located at 4540 El Camino
Real in the former Wells Fargo Bank
building in the Village Court Shopping Center, the 5,000-squarefoot-space has undergone a major
transformation. Although the shell of
the building remains, the interior has
been redone, with artistically tiled
walls, new wood floors and at least
seven refrigerated display cases to
hold the varieties of sausages and
smoked and fresh meats. A fire in
January 2011 severely damaged the
original Dittmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s at 400 San Antonio Road, Mountain View.
WORKOUT PLUS WASH ... A new
car wash opened last month at the
Oshman Family Jewish Community
Center, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto.
Operated by valet parking service
All About Parking, it promises to
wash patronsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cars while they work
out at the JCC fitness center. Prices
start at $15 for an exterior wash
and range to more than $100 for
detailing.

Heard a rumor about your
favorite store or business moving out, or in, down the block or
across town? Daryl Savage will
check it out. Email shoptalk@
paweekly.com.

Kristen Stewart of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Twilightâ&#x20AC;? fame plays a modern Snow White.

Snow White and the Huntsman
--1/2

(Century 16, Century 20) â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snow White and
the Huntsmanâ&#x20AC;? is something else. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s neither
the kid-friendly take of 1937â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfsâ&#x20AC;? nor the two-month-

old â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mirror Mirror,â&#x20AC;? nor the R-rated horror
version offered by 1997â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snow White: A
Tale of Terror.â&#x20AC;? No, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s something else. But
is it enough?
And, perhaps more to the point, whom is it
for? Rupert Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; frequently intense PG13 film isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t for kids (the pre-teen next to me

B E T T E R

twice clutched her mother in fear), and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
not exactly for adults either. The soggy new
script by Evan Daugherty, John Lee Hancock
and Hossein Amini doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t dig deep enough,
work hard enough, or draw compelling
enough characters to unequivocally fascinate
or entertain, leaving Sanders to justify his
filmâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existence through tasteful visuals. But
then, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s increasingly the lot of cinemagoers
to be treated like children, whether with fairy
tales or comic books.
Silly critic: â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snow White and the Huntsmanâ&#x20AC;? is for Twi-hards! Kristen Stewart
(â&#x20AC;&#x153;Twilightâ&#x20AC;?) stars as this Snow White made
over in the image of Joan of Arc. A princess deposed by her evil stepmother Queen
Ravenna (Charlize Theron), Snow at first embodies â&#x20AC;&#x153;innocence and purity,â&#x20AC;? but it is her
destiny to save her people and their blighted
environment. It takes a while for Snow to embrace her destiny as a hands-on leader, but
when she does, she dons armor and leads the
charge. Have fun storming the castle!
Or not: Sanders takes a somber, mostly
mirthless tack. Pale natural light, as well as
production design and effects designed for
a tactile credibility, create a bleak medieval
landscape; we get only a brief respite in the
beautiful and verdant fairy land the heroes
pine to recapture. The gangâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all here: a
stone castle (perched over crashing waves),
â&#x20AC;&#x153;the dark forestâ&#x20AC;? (enchanted, but of course),
a magic mirror (a golden gong of sorts), a
poison apple, and eight dwarves (yes, eight),

B A N K I N G

W I T H

played by a gaggle of CGI-shrunken British thespians, including Ian McShane, Bob
Hoskins, Toby Jones, Eddie Marsan, Ray
Winstone and Nick Frost.
And then thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chris Hemsworthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Huntsman, aka Eric (Monty Python would
be proud). Be vewwy, vewwy quiet: add Eric
and Snow to her boyhood pal Prince William
(Sam Claflin), and you get another love Twiangle. Crack archer Williamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all about the
Robin Hood look, while the widowed Huntsmanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s more of a â&#x20AC;&#x153;slash, crack, thank you
Jackâ&#x20AC;? type, charging into the fray wielding
ye olde sword (and brooding over his emotional bruises). As Snow comes into her own,
however, romance must take second place to
career.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Snow White and the Huntsmanâ&#x20AC;? does give
some ammo to future theses: an outpost of
self-mutilated women who sacrifice beauty
for better lives (in opposition to tortured beauty-hoarder Ravenna) and a motif of nasty oil
slicks that constitutes a forward-looking environmental consciousness. Still, these feints,
along with Sandersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; good eye and appealing
naturalistic restraint, canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t magically turn the
thin, glossy pages of this eye-catching picture
book into a transcendent fantasy fable.
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, and brief sensuality. Two
hours, eight minutes.
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Peter Canavese

OLYMPIANS . . . Stanford grad Kelley
Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Hara has been named to her first
U.S. Olympic womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s soccer team,
while fellow Stanford grads Rachel
Buehler and Nicole Barnhart will be
trying for their second Olympic gold
medal. Cardinal grad Christen Press
was named as a replacement player.
The U.S. Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National Team has
advanced to the gold-medal game of
every Olympics thus far, winning the
inaugural gold medal in 1996 in Athens, Ga., and silver in 2000 in Sydney,
Australia. The Americans are seeking
their third straight gold medal after
winning in Athens, Greece, in 2004
and Beijing in 2008.

Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mark Appel, who was named a first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball on
Thursday, will start the Cardinalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s NCAA regional opener on Friday night against Fresno State.

CCS TRACK & FIELD

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a banner year
for Palo Alto runners
Vikings head to CIF State Meet after winning section title
by Keith Peters

www.PASportsOnline.com
For expanded daily coverage of college
and prep sports, please see our new
site at www.PASportsOnline.com

(continued on next page)

J

ason Fung was sitting in the
Palo Alto High gym last Friday with Athletic Director Earl
Hansen, staring up into the rafters
and noticing the obvious â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the lack
of a Central Coast Section track and
field championship banner.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have to get one up there,â&#x20AC;?
Hansen said to Fung, the Vikingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
track and field coach.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I told Earl, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;once I get it, you
need to make room for me.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;
Later that day, as spectators
headed for their cars at Gilroy High,
Fung was busy on his phone.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;As soon as we finished, I texted him (Hansen) itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s banner time,â&#x20AC;?
Fung recalled.
Palo Alto will have its longawaited CCS championship banner

hanging in the gym some day soon,
thanks to a talented group of eight
athletes who combined for 53 points
and ran off with the 2012 CCS title.
St. Francis was second with 41.5 and
early favorite Bellarmine was third
with 39.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;What a night,â&#x20AC;? said Paly coach
Jason Fung. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Start to finish it was
a good track meet. It was our night.
All the things that needed to happen, happened.â&#x20AC;?
While the dominoes were falling
in Palyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favor during the meet, the
Vikings didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wrap up their firstever section crown until the final
event â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the 1,600-meter relay.
Palyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 4x400 relay squad that
wrapped up the title featured Mor(continued on page 37)

Margaret Gallagher

ON THE AIR

by Rick Eymer
tanford junior righthander Mark Appel can select from a list of motivating factors as he gets
ready for Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opening game of the NCAA
Stanford Regional. Revenge, a lack of respect and
one final chance to impress Major League scouts are
a few of them.
Of course, pitching well is the best
revenge.
Appel (9-1, 2.37)
also will get the
chance to avenge his
only loss of the season since heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be the
starter in Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
game against Fresno State at 6 p.m.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mark is self-driven,â&#x20AC;? said teammate Stephen Piscotty. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to say anything to him to get
him going. If he pitches with a chip on his shoulder,
all the better for us.â&#x20AC;?
The Cardinal (38-16) is the top seed of the regional, with the Bulldogs (30-26) getting the No. 4 seed.
WCC champion and No. 2 seed Pepperdine (34-21)
meets No. 3 seed Michigan State (37-21) at 1 p.m. to
open the tournament.
Appel, who was named a first team All-American
by Collegiate Baseball on Thursday and earned firstteam honors on the All-Pac-12 Conference squad
along with Piscotty on Wednesday, was snubbed for
Conference Pitcher of the Year honors. That award
went to Oregonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Alex Keudell (10-4).
Appel, however, will get plenty of attention this
weekend with the MLB First Year Player Draft on
Monday. Scouts will be swarming the 16 regional sites
for one final look.
Fresno State won the WAC tournament title by defeating Sacramento State, 4-3, in 13 innings. The Bulldogs won the national title in 2008, when they were
also a No. 4 seed to begin.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a real tough four seed,â&#x20AC;? Stanford coach

S

Casey Valentine/stanfordphoto.com

OF LOCAL NOTE . . . Four freshmen rowers attending Palo Alto High
finished third in the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s freshmen
4x event at the 78th annual Scholastic Rowing Association of America
(SRAA.net) national championships
held at Cooper River Park on Friday
and Saturday in Camden, N.J. A total
of 172 U.S. high schools from across
the nation participated in the regatta.
Palo Alto was the only high school to
participate from west of the Mississippi River. The four Paly rowers were
Jaisel Sandhu, Louis Barry, John
Carter, and Michael Hindery-Nelson.
The Palo Alto rowers row at NorCal
Rowing Club (www.norcalcrew.org)
during the school year in Redwood
City. Axel Stelter coached the menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
novice and freshmen program at
NorCal and coached the Palo Alto
boat for three weeks leading up to
the event . . . Castilleja grad Jane
Alexander wrapped up a solid career
at Harvard where she was the starting shortstop on the Crimson softball
team for all four years. She was
named a Division I softball Academic
All-American (third team; first team
District 1), Harvardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Female Breakout Athlete of the Year, Ivy League
Co-Player of the Year, and Harvard
softballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Most Valuable Offensive
Player of the Year and Most Valuable
Defensive Player of the Year.
She finished the season batting .408
and leading the team in average,
slugging, on-base percentage, and
triples, and second in extra base hits,
total bases, stolen bases, and double
plays. Harvard competed in an NCAA
regional finals this year, eliminating
No. 23 Texas Tech and Maryland before losing to No. 16 Washington.

Cardinal needs to win its
own regional this weekend
against a tough field

Sports
CITY OF PALO ALTO
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, pursuant to Article XIIID, section 6 of the
California Constitution, that the City Council of the City of Palo Alto will
hold a Public Hearing at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, June
18, 2012 at 7:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as possible, in the Council
Chambers, City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California. The Public
Hearing will be held to consider changes to Water, Wastewater and Refuse
Utilities Rate Schedules to be effective July 1, 2012.
Copies of the proposed water, wastewater and refuse rate schedules are
available on the Cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website at www.cityofpaloalto.org and in the Utilities
Department, 3rd Floor, City Hall, 250 Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto, California.
There is a $3.00 per copy charge for this publication.
DONNA J. GRIDER, MMC
City Clerk

Inspirations
a guide to the spiritual community
FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, UCC

NCAA baseball
Mark Marquess said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had
an outstanding season. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a
strong opponent for us.â&#x20AC;?
Fresno State handed Stanford its
first loss of the season on March 2,
scoring seven runs on eight hits in
eight innings against Appel. Take
that game away and Appel would
be 9-0 with a 1.94 ERA.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The team is focused,â&#x20AC;? said Piscotty. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We all know what the goal
is. Now that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time to play, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re
all engaged and ready to go. Coach
is always stressing to us, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;What have
you done for us lately?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; And the answer is always nothing. You have to
go out and perform.â&#x20AC;?
There will be some connections
between the two teams. Stanford senior pitcher Brian Busick was a high
school teammate of Fresno State
junior catcher Austin Wynns at
Poway; Piscotty and Fresno Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Will Anderson played at rival high
schools in Pleasanton; and Cardinal
Brant Whiting and the Bulldogsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;
Christian Belleque both played high
school ball in Fullerton.
The Bulldogs are just one of three
teams in the regional who have won
a national title. Stanford won backto-back titles in 1987-88 and Pepperdine won it all in 1992.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a strong field but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think
there is a weak field,â&#x20AC;? Marquess
said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;All the teams are playing well
at the right time. There were a lot of
good teams left out.â&#x20AC;?
Among those who will be spectators are Arizona State, Gonzaga
and Texas.
Stanford is hosting an NCAA regional for the 15th time, and the first
since 2008, during the Marquess
era. The Cardinal was 55-12 in the
previous 14 and advanced to 11 College World Series in Omaha.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The reason we play is to get to
the postseason,â&#x20AC;? Piscotty said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
time for all the hard work to start
paying off.â&#x20AC;?

The Cardinal is 11-10 against the
Piscotty (5-2) stepped into the
NCAA field, including series wins starting rotation and finished up
over Vanderbilt, Rice, UCLA and with five wins on the year and an
Fresno State.
ERA of 2.57.
The winner of the Stanford reâ&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve pitched all my life and it
gional will be matched with the was cool to get a few starts here,â&#x20AC;?
winner of the Tallahassee regional, he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not thinking about it
hosted by Florida State, seeded as a pro career. My whole approach
third nationally. UCLA earned the is to throw strikes and make them
overall No. 2 seed and Oregon is drive in the runs because Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not
seeded fifth. Arizona is also host- going to walk anyone. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m happy to
ing a regional.
do whatever is asked and not think
Stanford ended the
about it.â&#x20AC;?
regular season with a
Appel enters the post5-3 victory over visiting
season as the Pac-12
California last Sunday.
leader in strikeouts with
Piscotty was the winning
116. Appel is a semifipitcher and Jake Stewart
nalist for the Dick Howssupplied the power with
er Trophy and Golden
a three-run homer in the
Spikes Award, given to
second inning.
the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top player.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;We wanted to get
Piscotty hit .319 during
some momentum back
the regular season with a
and play the game the
the Pac-12â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s third-highest
Stephen Piscotty
way we want to play,â&#x20AC;?
total in RBI with 54. He
Stewart said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The sehas started every game in
niors were talking about how this his career at first, left, third base,
is the first time they will play a re- pitcher or designated hitter and is a
gional at home. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll go out there, finalist for the Olerud Award, given
be excited and play with energy.â&#x20AC;?
to college baseballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top two-way
The Cardinal ended the year by player.
winning nine of its final 11 games,
Both players are projected to be
more than enough to warrant host- first-round picks on June 4, during
ing.
the first round of the MLB Draft
Stanford finished tied for fourth starting at 4 p.m. on MLB Netplace in the Pac-12, with Arizona work.
State and Oregon State, a mere two
Austin Wilson, Brian Ragira,
games behind co-champs Arizona Alex Blandino and Eric Smith all
and UCLA and a game behind were named All-Pac-12 honorable
third-place Oregon.
mention. Wilson and Ragira got it
The Cardinal never lost more than for the second straight year. Wilson
three in a row all season, something is hitting .290 with nine homers
that can be attributed to different and 46 RBI, while Ragira is batting
guys stepping up to fill in for injured .318 with 47 RBI. Both have started
and/or slumping players. Alex Blan- every game in right and at first, redino, Dominic Jose, Danny Diek- spectively.
roeger and Brett Michael Doran
Smith is the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading hitter
found themselves in the lineup.
at .329 after 45 regular-season starts
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Those guys came in ready to at catcher. Blandino, the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
play,â&#x20AC;? Stewart said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t miss freshman third baseman, is hitting
a beat because of them. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s great to .289 with 35 RBI and seven homhave that kind of depth.â&#x20AC;?
ers. N

ris Gates-Mouton, Nikolai Solgaard
(both seniors), junior Jonathan Alee
and sophomore Nick Sullivan. They
set a CCS-leading and school record
of 3:21.16, breaking the old mark
of 3:22.6 (3:22.74 converted) from
1980.
Palo Alto won both relays, the 100
and 200, got a third in the 800 and
two sixths in the field events for its
championship points. That performance capped arguably the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
best season since 1914, when Paly
won the league meet title, a North
Coast Section crown and state
championship.
The 2012 Vikings have two of
those titles, but a third will be extremely difficult as two relay teams
and junior E.J. Floreal head into
the CIF State Meet this weekend
at Veterans Memorial Stadium on
the campus of Buchanan High in
Clovis.
Field events for Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prelims
begin at 3 p.m., with running starting at 5 p.m. On Saturday, the field
event finals start at 4:30 p.m., with
running going off at 6 p.m.
Palo Altoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best chances to score
well will be in the 400 relay and 200
meters. In the relay, Paly has the No.
5 qualifying time â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a school record
of 41.56 that ranks No. 1 among
NorCal schools. The top qualifier is
Rio Mesa in 40.95.
Floreal anchors the Vikingsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; foursome that includes senior Tremaine
Kirkman, junior Jayshawn GatesMouton and senior Morris GatesMouton.
In the 200, Floreal has the No. 12
qualifying time of 21.84 but has a
season best of 21.16. The top qualifier is Khalfani Muhammad of Notre
Dame (Sherman Oaks) in 21.10. Floreal also ranks No. 10 in the 100 at
10.81 with Dylan McCloskey of El
Camino (San Diego) No. 1 in 10.49.
Florealâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best is 10.52.
Fung said getting to the state meet
was not the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal this season.

Menlo sophomore Maddy Price
was third in the girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 400.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;The goal,â&#x20AC;? Fung said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;is getting
to the state finals.â&#x20AC;?
Should Floreal advance from Fridayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prelims in both his events and
help the 400 relay reach Saturdayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
finals, the Vikings could have a
chance to challenge for team honors.
Palo Alto also will have Solgaard
in the 800, where he ranks No. 14
with his personal best of 1:54.51,
plus the 1,600 relay team â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the No.
19 seed at 3:21.16. Chaminade (West
Hills) is No. 1 in the relay at 3:15.28
while Brett Moulton of Santiago is
the top 800 qualifier in 1:52.58.
No matter what happens at the
state meet, Fung is very satisfied

with how his 12th season as head
coach as turned out.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve exceeded expectations,â&#x20AC;?
he said of his athletes. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had high
hopes for them. We did what we had
to do when we had to do it. The kids
know how good it feels to win and
set records.â&#x20AC;?
Palo Alto did just that to open and
close the CCS meet.
The Vikings got the meet off to
a great start by winning the 400 relay in a school record of 41.56. The
time, which erased the previous
school mark of 42.07 set last season,
is the fourth-fastest in CCS history
â&#x20AC;&#x201D; trailing only the No. 1 time of
41.15 by Mt. Pleasant in 1992, the
41.50 by Woodside in 1975 and the
41.54 run by Independence (1988)
and Oak Grove (1997).
The Vikings just missed the meet
record of 41.54 by Independence
while running the No. 4 time in
the state this season. The Vikings
earned 10 points for the win while
No. 2 qualifier Bellarmine received
zero after being disqualified.
Floreal came back a short time
later to win the 100 meters in 10.81.
Kirkman finished eighth in 11.15,
but still earned a point as the Vikings picked up 11 points â&#x20AC;&#x201D; giving
them 21 points.
Solgaard ran a personal best of
1:54.51 in the 800 meters while
finishing third, earning another six
points as the Vikings moved to 27
points.
Palo Alto picked up six more
points when Victor Du took sixth in
the long jump at 20-1 1/2 and then
finished sixth in the high jump at
6-3. That gave the Vikings 33 points
heading into the 200 meters.
Floreal successfully defended his
No. 1 seed in the 200 by winning in
21.84, giving Paly 43 points heading into the 1,600 relay. St. Francis
was still in the title hunt with 41.5
points.
Fung didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how close St.
Francis was until after the 300 hurdles, but quickly got the totals and
realized the meet would come down
to the 4x400 relay. Thus, he wrestled
with the idea of running Floreal on
the final relay, but finally decided to
use his freshest legs. Floreal already
had run three events.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I just went with my gut instinct,â&#x20AC;?
Fung aid, before informing his runners, â&#x20AC;&#x153;This is for the championship.â&#x20AC;?
Fungâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s instinct proved correct as
St. Francis was disqualified when its
final runner threw down his baton in
frustration before finishing the race
while Bellarmine didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t finish when
one of its runners pulled up lame.
Paly took the lead in the relay on
the third leg when Alee passed a
San Lorenzo Valley runner on the
backstretch and gave Sullivan the
lead, which he easily held. Sullivan
was called up from the frosh-soph
team only two weeks earlier, for the
SCVAL Qualifier meet. Now, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
the teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top quartermiler.
The winning finish set off a wild
celebration by the Vikings near the
finish line.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;You capitalize on the moment
when you have a chance to do something great,â&#x20AC;? Fung said of the longawaited title.
For Fung, it has been a whirlwind
few weeks as he became a father
the the third time with the birth of
Jordan, his third son. Not too sur-

Menlo-Atherton senior George Baier (12) was a surprise winner in the
1600 after being added to the field when another runner dropped out.
prisingly, Fung didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t sleep much on
Friday night.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think I slept at all,â&#x20AC;? said
Fung, admittedly excited over the
CCS title. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I woke up this (Saturday) morning and I thought, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;did I
dream that last night? Did it really
happen?â&#x20AC;&#x2122; â&#x20AC;&#x153;
It did. A banner hanging in the
gym will prove it.
Palo Alto, meanwhile, will have
some local company at the state
meet this weekend.
Menlo-Atherton earned one entrant for the state meet as George
Baier was a surprise winner in the
1600 in a personal best of 4:20.77.
He had finished 13th in the semifinals and missed the finals, only to
be added to the field when a qualifying runner dropped the race in order
to concentrate on one event instead
of two. Baier took full advantage of
the fortuitous break.
Teammate Diâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;jonn Williams
just missed by finishing fourth in
the long jump at 20-3 and Michael
Hester missed out by finishing fifth
in the 800 in 1:56.60, while Jack
Beckwith was 12th in the 3,200 in

9:45.51. The Bearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 1,600 relay team
also failed to reach the state meet
after finishing fifth in 3:26.26.
Cameron Van of Sacred Heart
Prep was eighth in the high jump
at 5-11.
In the girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; competition, Menlo
School sophomore Maddy Price
took third place in the 400 final to
earn her first trip to the state meet.
Finishing in 56.68 seconds, Price
topped last weekâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal-best
time of 57.38 at the semifinals.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Maddy ran a smart race . . . She
stayed relaxed and just took the
third place down,â&#x20AC;? said Menlo assistant coach Jorge Chen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s looking really good, and we wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be
surprised if she hits low 56 at state.
Maddy is one of those rare athletes
who is driven, and wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t give up until she gets it.â&#x20AC;?
Price was the only local girl to
advance to the state meet. Palo Alto
senior Lindsay Black was seventh in
the shot put at 36-9, freshman teammate Anna Dukovic was seventh in
the high jump at 4-11 and the Menlo-Atherton 1,600 relay team was
sixth in 4:02.61. N

Margaret Gallagher

CCS track

Margaret Gallagher

Sports

Morris Gates-Mouton (right) hands off to E.J. Floreal for the anchor leg
of the 400 relay, which Paly won in a school-record 41.56.
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁ]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 37

Sports
CCS BASEBALL

STANFORD ROUNDUP

Just too
much to
overcome

Historic NCAA tennis
finish for teammates
Gibbs wins singles title before teaming with Burdette
to claim national doubles crown in womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tourney

Menlo Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream
of three-peat ends
in 10-6 loss in finals
By Andrew Preimesberger
he fact that the Menlo School
baseball team had only one
practice all season where every player was healthy, pretty much
summed up the Knightsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; year.
Simply put, there was a lot to
overcome and Menlo nearly did.
Menlo head coach Craig Schoof,
however, couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t call on senior
Dylan Mayer for a big hit because
Mayer was sidelined with a broken
ankle. And when Schoof needed senior Freddy Avis to pitch in the most
critical moment of the season, Avis
was sidelined by illness and tightness in his right arm.
What it all added up to was a
season of high expectations ending
in a frustrating 10-6 loss to Pacific
Grove in the Central Coast Section
Division III championship game
last Saturday at San Jose Municipal
Stadium.
There was no three-peat for the
Knights and no dogpile to participate in at the end of the game.
And, while a CCS trophy is always
nice for the trophy case, the award
wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the one Schoof and his team
wanted.
Still, said Schoof, â&#x20AC;&#x153;that doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t diminish what we accomplished.â&#x20AC;?
Menlo won the West Bay Athletic
League title, earned a No. 2 seed for
the section playoffs, compiled a 22-8
record, and had to juggle its lineup
to the point of having its starting
catcher moving to the mound â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and
still nearly pulled off the first threepeat in program history.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;In all honesty this is the most
proud Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve ever been of a team,â&#x20AC;?
said Schoof. â&#x20AC;&#x153;To go through all that
adversity and all the expectations â&#x20AC;&#x201D;
itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tough.â&#x20AC;?
The toughest part was having topseeded Palma knocked out of the
tournament in the first round and
having a path cleared to a possible
sixth CCS title.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just to get to three CCS championships is an accomplishment in
itself,â&#x20AC;? said Menlo starting pitcher
Jake Batchelder.
Pacific Grove came into the title
game with the No. 9 seed, but left
with the championship trophy and
its third CCS title â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the first since
1999 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to cap a 20-10 season.
The Knightsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bats looked solid in
the first inning when Avis belted a
triple over the out-stretched arm of
the Pacific Grove right fielder. Avis
later scored on a bases-loaded walk
by Will King. A sacrifice fly by
Austin Marcus made it 2-0 after the
first inning.
The Knights looked in control in
the third after scoring two more runs
on an RBI double by Marcus and
and RBI single by Sam Crowder.
Momentum, however, swung
in the other direction for Menlo
in the bottom of the fourth inning
when Pacific Grove scored six runs
on three hits and two walks. The

Coach Craig Schoof (left) congratulates Freddy Avis on his homer.

After school program starts on September 8
for non-Mandarin speaking students.

also became the first Stanford player to win both titles in the same year
since Linda Gates accomplished the
feat in 1985.
In addition, Gibbs and Burdette
were the first all-Stanford NCAA
singles final since 2001, when Laura
Granville beat Lauren Kalvaria, 6-3,
7-6 (7-1), in Stone Mountain, Ga.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s always a very tough situation
to be playing your teammate, and
then I got down 6-2, 4-1 to a girl that
has been playing incredible tennis,
but I just didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t let myself give up
from that point,â&#x20AC;? Gibbs said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had
worked too hard and come too far
in this tournament to just lay down,
but at the same time I got very
lucky to turn that match around. I
still consider myself very lucky for
that win.â&#x20AC;?
Burdette stormed to a 6-2 win in
the first set and appeared to be in
control with a 4-1 lead in the second. But Gibbs ripped off three
straight games to even the set at 4-4
and actually led 6-5 before Burdette
broke Gibbs for a 6-6 tie.
In the second-set tiebreaker, Gibbs
raced out to a 2-0 lead before Burdette won five straight points. Gibbs
then countered with five straight
points and closed out the tiebreaker
at 7-6 (7-5).
After alternating holds on service
games early in the third set, Gibbs
owned a 3-2 advantage. Gibbs
moved ahead 5-2 before Burdette
held and cut the deficit to 5-3 before Gibbs eventually finished the
match.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nicole is very good at stepping
it up when her opponent is about
to close things out,â&#x20AC;? Burdette said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s her specialty, and she definitely made it tough for me out there
in the end. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m really proud of the
week that Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had here. Hats off to
Nicole for playing a great match in
the finals.â&#x20AC;?
In doubles play, Burdette and
Gibbs continued their dominating

INTERESTED

EAT
38 GR S
SHOW

7/19

7/01 The Ray Brown

he Stanford womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis
team didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t win an NCAA
championship this season,
but the Cardinal certainly didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t go
home empty-handed.
Sophomore Nicole Gibbs became
Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first NCAA womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
singles champion since 2004 by
downing teammate Mallory Burdette, 2-6, 7-6, 6-3, in the finals on
Monday in Athens, Ga.
Despite a rain delay that forced
them inside, Gibbs and Burdette
joined forces to win the NCAA doubles title later in the day with a 6-2,
6-4 victory over Georgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Chelsey
Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist.
It was the perfect ending to the
NCAA tournament for the Cardinal
as it was the first time in NCAA
menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s or womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tennis history
that teammates squared off in the
singles final before pairing up in the
doubles title match.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s probably one of the biggest days in our programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history,â&#x20AC;?
Stanford coach Lele Forood said.
â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s very exciting, especially because no oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s graduating. So, we
go forward from here. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s quite an
amazing day. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hard to play your
teammate in such a big moment and
then to come back and double with
them to a title. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a testament to
how mature they both are and that
they could do what they had to do
today.â&#x20AC;?
In a unique head-to-head singles
matchup that lasted nearly three
hours and featured several tense
moments, fans saw a mixture of
incredible shot-making, pinpoint
placement and lengthy, well-executed rallies, even despite the occasional ill-timed double fault.
Rallying from a first-set loss and
shaking off deficits of 4-1 and 5-2
in the second set, Gibbs became
the 15th all-time collegiate singles
champion in school history and the
13th in NCAA history.
Gibbs is the first Stanford player
to capture the NCAA singles crown
since Amber Liu repeated as champion in 2004. Gibbs (41-5 overall)

At Jordan School (Saturdays 9am-11am),
Fairmeadow School (Thursdays), Laurel School
(Tuesdays and Fridays), Oak Knoll (Mondays)
and Encinal School (Wednesdays)
Contact: Phyllis (650) 917-7907 for details

Hwa Shin Chinese School
750 N. California Ave., Palo Alto

www.hwashinschool.org

Sports

CCS baseball

(continued from previous page)

Breakers got a break when, with
two outs, Menlo shortstop Mikey
Diekroeger couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t come up with a
slow roller for the final out. Pacific
Grove took advantage as the next
five hitters reached base safely and
PG grabbed a 6-4 lead.
Menlo responded to the deficit
when Avis led off the fourth with
a towering home run over the rightfield fence for a 6-5 game.
Avis just missed hitting a homer
in the second, but the fly ball drifted
down the right-field line and landed
foul in the bullpen. Avis wound up
striking out.
Menlo tied the game at 6 in the
fifth inning on a walk to Marcus, a
bloop single to right by senior Carson Badger and a fielderâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s choice
by Graham Stratford, which scored
Marcus.
Despite getting back in the game,
the momentum shift for Menlo was
short-lived after Batchelder had
to leave the game â&#x20AC;&#x201D; reaching his
five-inning limit after pitching five
frames in an 8-2 semifinal win over
Monte Vista Christian in the semifinals.
Schoof, however, couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bring in
Avis to close out the Breakers. Avis,
who couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t pitch in the semifinals
due to illness and tightness in his
throwing arm, was still unavailable
for anything but DH duty. Projected
as a possible high pick in the upcoming MLB draft or destined for
a solid career at Stanford, it was too
much for Schoof to risk by having
Avis throw.
Instead, Schoof brought in Marcus, his junior starting catcher.
While Marcus had thrown a onehitter with 13 strikeouts in the quarterfinals, he had limited pitching experience. And this, after all, was the
biggest game of his career.
Marcus started the sixth and gave
up a leadoff single. It got worse for
Marcus after that with a stolen base,
some walks and a sacrifice fly that
gave Pacific Grove an 8-6 lead.
Menlo tried to bounce back in the
bottom of the sixth when senior Chris
Zeisler walked with one out. On a
grounder by Batchelder, however,
Zeisler was called for obstruction as
he slid into second base. Batchelder
also was called out on the play, ending a potential threat. Schoof came
out to protest, but to no avail.
Marcus continued to struggle with
his control in the seventh, loading
the bases. A walk and another balk
call made it 10-6 and Menloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dream
was over.
It was a tough finish for the
Knights, who started four sophomores on Saturday â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Diekroeger,
Stratford, King and Crowder.
Not having Avis available to pitch
also was crucial. The Stanfordbound senior, who throws his fastball in the 90-94 mph range, had
been the winning pitcher in Menloâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
past two championship games and
could have been again had he been
available.
He departs along with Zeisler,
Badger, Julian Ryles, Marc Adler,
Batchelder and Mayer. The seniors
helped compile a four-year record of
98-26, four straight appearances in
the CCS playoffs, two titles and one
second-place finish. N

Avenidas Rose Kleiner Center presents a free

â&#x20AC;&#x153;How Toâ&#x20AC;? Series

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

for Family Caregivers

Wednesday, June 27
6:30 pm - 8 pm
How To help a family
member who has
Parkinsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Come to this free
informative session. Enjoy
light refreshments and a
chance to connect with
others in similar
circumstances.

RSVP to (650) 289-5498
Maddy Price

E.J. Floreal

Menlo School

Palo Alto High

The versatile sophomore ran
a personal best of 56.68
to finish third in the 400
meters at the Central Coast
Section Track and Field
Championships, earning her
a trip to her first-ever CIF
State Meet.

The junior won the 100
in 10.81, took the 200 in
21.84 and anchored the
400 relay team to first place
in a school record of 41.56
as the Vikings won their
first-ever CCS team title in
track and field.

Quality Daytime Care for Older Adults

* Free on-site care of your aging loved one available while
you attend the workshop. 48-hour notice required.

Honorable mention
Jonathan Alee
Palo Alto track & field

Freddy Avis
Menlo baseball

George Baier
Menlo-Atherton track & field

Jake Batchelder
Menlo baseball

B.J. Boyd
Palo Alto baseball

Tremaine Kirkman
Palo Alto track & field

Austin Marcus
Menlo baseball

Jayshawn Gates-Mouton
Palo Alto track & field

Morris Gates-Mouton
Palo Alto track & field

Nikolai Solgaard
Menlo track & field

Nick Sullivan
Palo Alto track & field

Chris Zeisler
Menlo baseball
* previous winner

To see video interviews of the Athletes of the Week, go to www.PASportsOnline.com

Stanford roundup
(continued from previous page)

postseason play. The All-American
duo did not drop a set and surrendered four games or more in a set
twice.
After cruising to a 6-2 victory in the first set, Burdette and
Gibbs moved ahead 3-1 in the
second set. Georgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s duo of Gilchrist and Gullickson managed to
hang close, creeping to within 4-3
and 5-4. Burdette and Gibbs then
broke serve and locked up the second set at 6-4 to secure the championship.
On Sunday, Stanford senior Bradley Klahn dropped his semifinal
match to top-ranked and top-seeded
Steve Johnson of USC, who successfully defended his national title with
a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kentuckyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Eric
Quigley on Monday.
Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s golf
Caroline Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor has resigned
her position as Stanfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s head
coach after 17 seasons.
Stanford made 15 trips to the
NCAA Championships during
Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tenure, including three
top-five finishes. In 2000, Stanford
finished second at the champion-

ships, marking the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best
national finish in school history.
Stanford also placed fourth in 1997
and fifth in 2007.
Synchronized swimming
Stanford synchronized swimming
head coach Heather Olson has announced her retiring from coaching
as of Sept. 1, 2012. Current Stanford
assistant coach Sara Lowe will take
over the reigns as head coach for the
Cardinal.
Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s volleyball
Stanford last won an NCAA
championship in 2004. Head coach
John Dunning hopes his latest recruiting will bring the Cardinal
another in short order. Dunning has
five freshmen that will join the team
this fall and help it contend for a Pac12 championship and the programâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
seventh NCAA title. Moreover, the
class is rated No. 1 in the nation by
PrepVolleyball.com.
The group includes Mountain
View grad and All-American Brittany Howard, Oklahoma Gatorade
Player of the Year Inky Ajanaku,
two-time North Carolina Gatorade
Player of the Year Madi Bugg, National Gatorade Player of the Year
Jordan Burgess and All-American
Megan McGehee. N
Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Ă&#x153;Â°*>Â?Â&#x153;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;"Â&#x2DC;Â?Â&#x2C6;Â&#x2DC;iÂ°VÂ&#x153;Â&#x201C;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;*>Â?Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;Â?Ă&#x152;Â&#x153;Ă&#x160;7iiÂ&#x17D;Â?Ă&#x17E;Ă&#x160;UĂ&#x160;Ă&#x2022;Â&#x2DC;iĂ&#x160;ÂŁ]Ă&#x160;Ă&#x201C;Ă¤ÂŁĂ&#x201C;Ă&#x160;U Page 39